INVESTIGATION INTO TRANSPORTS OF LIVE ANIMALS FROM ...

It is extremely dangerous to drive in Italy due to heavy snow falls.
28.01.2006
Transport of horses from Spain to Italy, 27 th – 28 th January 2006
00:28 Truck takes exit for Reggio Emilia and follows sings for Correggio.
01:20 Arrival at a farm near Corregio.
Now two horses are lying down in the trailer. One manages to get up before unloading starts. The
other one is lying with his head under a partition and does not manage to stand up.
During unloading the driver manages to make the horse get back up. The horse has some difficulties;
after the first try to stand up, it breaks down again, but makes it at the second try.
Horses appear to be stressed and exhausted, but we do not spot any injured horse.
6. Arrival at destination
Date & Time of unloading at destination: 28.01.06, 01:50 o’clock
Temperature: -2° Celsius
Vet present: no vet; there is just a stable worker present
II. CONCLUSIONS
1. Deficient veterinary checks at place of departure in Spain
The veterinary service (1139715 Vitoria, 1103102 Zaragoza) at place of departure in Spain should not
have authorized this transport as it was not in compliance with relevant legislation.
1.1 Regarding accompanying documents
The veterinary services in Spain issued and stamped deficient accompanying documents.
The following irregularities were detected:
- the route plan accompanying the consignment of 17 horses (no.: INTRA.ES.2006.0001667)
was not filled in. There was only the stamp of the veterinary service Alava (region Vitoria) and
the name of the driver written on it. It is not known to Animals’ Angels, if the veterinary service
itself stamped a blank route plan or if the transport company illegally got hold of the stamp. In
any case, the veterinary service (1139715 Vitoria) should not have drawn up the health
certificate, because no duly drawn up route plan was submitted by the transporter.
- on both health certificate it was indicated that there was no route plan, even though a route plan
was required
- on the health certificate no. INTRA.ES.2006.0001682 issued by the veterinary service 1103102
Zaragoza the estimated journey time is indicated with 0.0 hours.
This constitutes a violation of Council Directive 96/93/EC on the certification of animals and
animal products. The competent Spanish authority did not take all necessary steps to
ensure the integrity of certification as required in Art. 4 of Council Directive 96/93/EC.
The irregularities found regarding the blank route plan additionally constitute a violation of Art. 5,
section A, paragraph 2, lit. b, c and lit. d of Council Directive 91/628 EEC as amended by
Council Directive 95/29 EC.
1.2 Regarding exceeded loading density and unsuitable partitions
It must be presumed that the veterinary services in Spain were either not present during loading
operations or did not pay the necessary attention to loading density and partitions. (please see
point II.4 and 5).
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Place and date of report: Freiburg, 30.01.2006 © Copyright Animals’ Angels e.V.
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