Dead Calves on Transport to Spain

Calves on their way to slaughter

Every week, calves are transported from the Spanish mainland to the Canary Islands.

The crossing takes more than 50 hours. The animals, only a few months old, spend days on the truck: without food, without sufficient water, without clean bedding, in outdoor temperatures well above 30°C. Not all animals survive this ordeal, as the animal welfare organisations Animals' Angels and ANDA were able to document in their on-site operations. These transports are supported by subsidies from the European Union and slaughter premiums.

Demand for meat on the Spanish islands is particularly high during the holiday season. Instead of transporting meat, live fattening cattle are transported by trucks and ferry over several days, with the sole purpose of slaughtering them on site. The transport of animals is subsidised by the European Union. In addition, there is a slaughter premium for each animal. This is why, despite the considerable effort involved, it remains a profitable business.

«Only a dead calf makes for a good transport,» a driver tells animal welfare organizations Animals' Angels and ANDA, which monitor animal transports at Spanish ports and in the Canary Islands. In the summer of 2022 and June 2023, they encounter appalling conditions on these transports: dead calves, temperatures of up to 39 °C inside the trucks, no feed, insufficient water, and bedding soaked with excrement. It is scientifically proven that long-distance transports are extremely stressful for animals. Especially at high temperatures, animals in the confined space of transports have no opportunity to move away from one another or regulate their body temperature. As a rule, the animals cannot lie down without risking being trampled. The constant effort to maintain balance while standing on a swaying ship thus rapidly leads to complete exhaustion. Added to this are thirst, hunger, and the acrid smell of ammonia.

Transports across Europe

The fattening calves come from all across Europe — for example France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Denmark. Most of them have already experienced at least one long-distance transport, either at just a few weeks of age for fattening purposes, or they begin the long journey to the Spanish ports shortly before the crossing. This means that many have already been in transit for days before they even reach the ferry. Upon arrival in the Canary Islands, the ordeal frequently continues: long waiting times, reloading onto smaller trucks, or island-hopping from the main islands to one of the smaller Canary Islands significantly worsens the situation for the animals.

Under the EU Animal Transport Regulation, cattle may be transported for a maximum of 29 consecutive hours. After that, they must be unloaded from the truck and cared for over a period of 24 hours. However, the time spent on the ferry is regarded as neutral time that is not counted toward the transport duration — even though the animals must remain in the truck on board the vessel.

In their joint position paper on the revision of EU legislation on the transport of animals, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden call for the introduction of a maximum journey time of eight hours for all animals destined for slaughter, as well as for the time spent inside a truck loaded onto a ship to be counted as transport time rather than rest time.

Through our reports, the Spanish Ministry has also become aware of the grievances on the transport routes from the mainland to the Canary Islands. It has announced that it will retroactively inspect all transports for 2023. Furthermore, additional control documents are to be carried.

We warmly welcome these demands and the additional inspections. It is high time that the agonisingly long transports of slaughter animals are brought to an end. More on the topic Animal rights and Animal welfare.