EU Encouraged to Explore Alternatives to Live Animal Transport

Each year, millions of animals endure “difficult journeys” both within and beyond Europe.

Transported overland and by sea, these sentient beings face inadequate welfare protections, especially when exported to countries outside the EU, according to the campaign group Eurogroup for Animals.

The organisation stresses the urgent need to modernise and significantly strengthen the EU’s Transport Regulation, and urges a long-term shift toward a model in which live animal transportation is no longer necessary.

Eurogroup for Animals states:

“The EU’s live animal transport industry is riddled with problems.”

It further adds:

“Not only is the sector detrimental to the welfare of countless animals, but tragedies are common. Vessels are detained at borders for days on end, leaving animals abandoned without food or water.

“Animals are neglected by workers, and therefore suffer from injuries, exposure to extreme temperatures, and more. Sea journeys are made hazardously on vessels that don’t pass basic standards for animal welfare.”

Eurogroup for Animals has pushed for reform in this “problematic” sector for years and believes that “the EU is finally responding.”

EU lawmakers have been reviewing the transport regulation — the legislation governing the welfare of all transported animals — since December 2023. However, according to the group, the proposed measures do not yet go far enough.

It argues:

“As the file moves along the legislative process, it is vital these proposals are adapted further to ensure they adequately address the welfare needs of the animals currently suffering in this sector.

“Ideally, EU policy-makers will also focus on alternatives to the live animal transport industry, so no live animal is forced to endure difficult and lengthy journeys that feel innately unnatural to them.”

Live animal transport in the EU: factbox

• In 2022, 1,562,618,904 ovines, bovines, poultry, and pigs were transported alive across the EU and from the EU to countries outside Europe;
• Farm birds made up 97% of all live animal exports, making them the most traded species. The top EU exporters of poultry were Hungary, Czechia, and Poland;
• In 2019, 57,523 tonnes of fish were reported as exported alive from the EU, with 93% destined for other Member States;
• 87,817 horses, asses, mules, and hinnies were transported alive both within the EU and to non-EU destinations.