Horse charity, World Horse Welfare, is dismayed that the European Commission is not proposing any changes to the legislation which governs the long-distance transportation of horses to their slaughter in Europe.
A long awaited report from the European Commission was published last week.
World Horse Welfare have said that they welcome the enforcements of the laws, however they are upset that their proposal for a 9 - 12-hour maximum journey limit has not been adopted. The charity carried out scientific research which backed up their claims for this new law being introduced, however they were rejected.
The charity has campaigned for these changes and in doing so they have presented the Commission with compelling evidence that horses suffer on these journeys. They also showed that 80,000 horses take these journeys to slaughter each year and that there is a large amount of public support for change.
They handed over a Dossier of Evidence to the Commission last month which outlined the negative impact of long distance transportation on horses. It also included plenty of recommendations on how conditions can be improved.
Campaigns advisor Jo White said on the World Horse Welfare official website: “We are dismayed that the report has not proposed changes to this inadequate law despite their recognition that the current Regulation does not follow the latest scientific evidence.
“Experts from the European Food Safety Authority have recommended a shortened journey time for horses for slaughter, yet despite featuring this in the report the Commission gives no commitment to act.
This is of grave concern as journey times, resting times and space allowances have been left unchanged since 1991.
“We support better enforcement, but only as part of a package of measures including shortened journey times. A maximum journey limit would be simpler to enforce and is totally feasible with the existing infrastructure of slaughterhouses approved to slaughter horses. It is possible to reach such a slaughterhouse from anywhere in the EU within 9 -12 hours.
“We are pleased that the report addresses the need for “guides to good practice” for transporters. We believe that guidance is desperately needed on interpretation of the rules on fitness to transport and on water provision, and we have raised this with the Commission before the publication of the report and in our Dossier of Evidence.”
Although the report states that the current Regulation has had “beneficial impacts on the welfare of animals during transport” since being put in place in 2007, it admits that “severe animal welfare problems persist”.
White continued: “We carry out regular field investigations and, based upon our observations, we believe that the report overstates the improvements to animal welfare following the introduction of the Regulation in 2007.
Levels of suffering remain unacceptably high, and enforcement is inconsistent. We regularly observe horses that are clearly unfit for transport and totally exhausted, where little or no veterinary attention is given and they are transported regardless.”
World Horse Welfare also has concerns about the data used to compile the report – believing that the questionnaire used was flawed. This issue was raised with both the Commission and contractor at the time.