It's too hot:the transport of animals in such high temperatures is prohibited

Animals exploited for food production suffer suffocating heat on farms, as well as during transport to the slaughterhouse.

• The È Animali investigative team intercepted several trucks used for transporting pigs on the A1.
• The animals were traveling with internal temperatures of 40°C due to the heat and crowding.
• With the No animal left behind campaign, we ask to ban the transport of live animals when the outside temperature exceeds 25 degrees.

For weeks, the heat and the drought they have inevitably made their way among the issues most addressed and discussed by the media, politics and, in general, by people.In fact, it is very difficult to ignore these phenomena, with which, in one way or another, we find ourselves forced to live.However, those who are not equipped to face the heat are the animals locked up in intensive farming.Kept in conditions that they did not choose and over which they certainly have no control, animals exploited for the production of meat, milk and eggs suffer suffocating heat on farms, as well as during the transport to the slaughterhouse.

The images collected along the highways

And it is in these hot days that we decided to document the conditions of the animals in one of the hottest places that our cities have to offer:the highways.Our investigative team went toA1, between Lodi and Bologna, and intercepted and monitored several trucks used for transporting pigs, following them to the slaughterhouse.

We have documented puzzling conditions:the animals traveled for several hours with internal temperatures of 40°C due to the heat, crowding and body heat they produced.Even more serious, many of them did not have access to water.The images speak clearly:the animals are gasping for air and are in conditions of obvious stress.But science also says it:for adult pigs the temperature range within which they are able to maintain their normal body temperature is between 8°C and 25°C.Figures far from the 40°C we recorded.

What the current rules say

Despite all this, the documented conditions are legal.The current rules they do not specify temperature limits inside or outside the vehicle for journeys of up to eight hours (or twelve hours if an exemption is granted) and do not clearly define the methods of water administration.This creates the conditions for a gray area unregulated in which it is not easy to intervene, even when Animal welfare is not guaranteed.

“The conditions of transport documented by Being Animals are appalling and bring to light a phenomenon completely ignored by our country which, not surprisingly, is not among the thirteen member states which, on the occasion of the Agrifish council between the Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries on 18 July last, expressed in favor of one ambitious revision of the regulation on the transport of live animals, which is expected to be presented by the European Commission in 2023,” he said Eleonora Evi, MEP, national co-spokesperson for Green Europe and member of the Anit special commission on live animal transport.

The No animal left behind campaign

A Note issued at the beginning of June by the Ministry of Health required do not travel with live animals if temperatures exceed 30 degrees at departure or during the journey;however, this circular refers to long journeys over eight hours and does not take short ones into consideration.For this reason, through the campaign No animals left behind, coordinated by Eurogroup for animals and supported by dozens of NGOs from across Europe, includingessereanimali, we ask that:

• the transport of live animals over long distances (lasting more than eight hours) is prohibited;
• an external temperature range between 5° and 25°C is introduced, outside of which any transport is prohibited;
• some fundamental parameters are clearly defined, such as the species- and category-specific conditions for the suitability for animal transport, as well as the availability of space and the method of water administration.

European animal protection laws are incomplete and inadequate and for this reason we ask the European Union and the Italian government to ensure that the legislation protects Really animal welfare, even during the summer.