What was your worst ever journey? Mine was a hot, smelly, crowded 31 hour bus journey from Madrid to Rome.
It was pretty bad, but ultimately I was in control of my destiny and could get off at one of the stops if I wanted to.
Multiply by, sorry but I'll pick a number out the air here, 360 million, the hardship suffered by Europe's animals as they are transported vast distances across Europe for fattening or slaughter. The animals are at risk from thirst, hunger, overcrowding and communicable disease - it really puts my experience in the shade.
Today we at OneKind have learned that a report from the European Commission recommends making no changes to legislation on animal transport (Council Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport).
In the report, the Commission insists that the Regulation has brought about substantial welfare benefits to transported animals, but any improvements that have been made are extremely modest in our opinion.
OneKind is part of the 8Hours campaign calling on maximum journey times to slaughter to be limited to 8 hours, and which so far has collected around 900,000 out of an expected 1 million signatures to present to the Commission early next year.
Our Policy Director Libby Anderson explains: “We want the Commission to bring the Regulation in line with current scientific knowledge, above all on journey times, where an eight hour limit is essential. Space allowances, deck heights and required temperatures on board vehicles are also in need of review, as are the transport requirements of specific species such as rabbits, horses, cats and dogs.
“There is provision for all this to take place and it is important that the Regulation is made to work more effectively. In particular, we are worried that not enough is being done to enforce the Regulation and we would have hoped for the report to recommend more rigorous inspections, especially in Member States which repeatedly fail to implement the legislation. We would also like a review of the way Satellite Navigation systems are used, as these should provide a powerful and effective way of tracking journey times, but at present do not provide data in ‘real time’ to a central EU database.”
Please help the 8-hours campaign reach 1-million signatures and we will send a message loud and clear that the people of Europe don't want animals to suffer in this way any longer.
PS. And feel free to share your thoughts about the journeys that animals have to take, by commenting below.