Transport of animals for slaughter (horses)

Speech by Fiona on Thu 15th Jan 2009

Mr President, has the Commission considered the human health implications of poor implementation of animal welfare regulations? Transport, especially transport over long distances with a lack of space, produces stress, and stress means more susceptibility to disease. This is particularly true for horses, where scientific studies show that transport makes horses become shedders. That means they excrete a lot more than they would normally, which greatly increases the likelihood of the spread of disease. Many transported animals are going to slaughter - 320 million of them in the EU each year - so that means there is a greatly increased risk of diseases like salmonella entering the food chain.

Given the very poor level of implementation of current rules and the stress involved in long journeys, even with proper rest stops, especially for horses, does the Commission plan to come forward, where necessary and on the basis of scientific evidence, with a finite absolute journey time limit? That would be in the interests of animal welfare and of human health.