Thousands of Cattle Trapped at Sea – Livestock Ship Spiridon II Stuck off the Turkish Coast

For more than two weeks, the livestock vessel Spiridon II has been stranded off the Turkish coast with 2,901 cattle from Uruguay on board. Turkish authorities are refusing to allow the animals to be unloaded due to discrepancies in ear tag documentation. The animals have now been at sea for over 50 days. According to a letter from the ship’s owner, at least 48 cattle have already died. After the media increased the pressure, the ship was allowed to dock to load feed and/or bedding. However, it is still unclear what will happen to the cattle, which appear to be pregnant heifers. 

Together with Animal Advocacy and Food Transition, Animals International, and Dr. Lynn Simpson, an Australian veterinarian and expert on live exports by sea, we have called on the Turkish authorities to immediately unload the animals to prevent further suffering. 

Although this case does not involve the EU or EU animals, we have formally appealed to the European Commission to intervene and take all possible diplomatic and technical steps to enable the immediate unloading of the surviving cattle. Even if only animals with compliant identification could initially be offloaded, this would reduce overcrowding and allow the remaining animals better access to scarce resources.

“After the long journey from Uruguay to Turkey, the animals are already weakened. Every further delay means massive suffering,”
says our project manager Dr. Maria Boada Saña.

Mounting Pressure on the Authorities

Several media outlets – in Turkey, Uruguay, Brussels and beyond – have now reported on the case. Public pressure on the Turkish authorities is increasing. This may have contributed to the ship being allowed to dock briefly at the port of Bandırma on Sunday.

With the help of our partner organisation Animal Save Movement Türkiye, we were able to film the Spiridon II while docked. The footage shows that feed and bedding were loaded, but no animals were unloaded – neither alive nor dead. The video gives a rare glimpse of the animals on board: black and white cattle can be seen in the video recordings. This suggests that they come from the dairy industry.

According to media reports, Türkiye is refusing to accept the animals, and the ship’s owner is now reportedly trying to sell them to Ukraine. Such a journey would be disastrous for the animals: after more than 50 days at sea, they are weakened, dehydrated and severely stressed.

“The fate of these 2,901 cattle is emblematic of the live export system by sea,” says Boada Saña. “As long as such transports remain legal, tragedies like this will continue.”

The Spiridon II sails under the Togolese flag and mainly transports animals from South America to the Middle East. To our knowledge, it no longer has a permit to load animals in European ports. Thanks to our team on site, we are staying on top of the case and will keep you informed of the latest developments. 

For days, we have been demanding that the animals be unloaded to prevent further suffering and deaths. But the authorities are not taking action – and the animals' torment continues. After days without a solution, we urgently appeal to the authorities to have the animals examined by a veterinarian and to put those that are sick or weakened out of their misery. The remaining animals must be brought ashore without delay. 

This tragic case shows once again that transporting animals by sea is unacceptable. We demand an end to this cruel practice – so that something like this never happens again.

Find our letter to Turkish officials here. 

Find our letter to the EU Commission here. 

Find our letter to the WOAH here. 

Find our press release about the case here.