Our team is in Bulgaria in the village of Kapitan Andreevo which marks the external border of the EU with Turkey. This is the tenth year in a row that our teams have been on the lookout for animal transports in extreme temperatures. During this investigation we inspect 28 animal transporters in total. The vehicles that leave the exit point of…

Only one truck with animals crosses the Turkish border today. It is loaded with young bulls from Romania. They are unloaded at a nearby stable to be watered and fed for a few hours. The animals are very thirsty and immediately start fighting for access to the water trough.

In the late afternoon, our team crosses the border in order to check if…

The weather forecast predicts temperatures of 39°C at the Turkish border for today. This is the first day since we started observing this border in 2010 that we do not see any animal trucks crossing the border. We are satisfied that finally our minimum demand that no animals are transported in hot weather is fulfilled, at least for today.

Our team starts to inspect animal trucks from the EU entering Turkey at the border of Kapikule. Close to the border crossing, we see young bulls with Austrian ear tags in a private stable. For one day, they have been stuck inside the border and for another one at this stable due to problems with their documents. Six other trucks with Austrian…

During the weekend the temperatures are rising up to 37 degrees Celsius. Our team colleagues from the Bulgarian side are reporting one animal transporter after another entering the border. As a result, we are busy inspecting about 70 transports during these 3 days. Most of the animals are coming from Slovakia and Czech Republic, but also from…

For several years now TSB|AWF teams have been documenting systematic breaches of the Regulation (EC) 1/2005 during transports to Turkey in the hot summer months, resulting in extreme animal suffering. Fortunately, this time our teams are accompanied to the Bulgarian-Turkish border by a Member of European Parliament and a German official…

Animal Welfare Foundation/ Tierschutzbund Zuerich and Eyes on Animals have one team on each side of the border of Bulgaria and Turkey. This week the temperatures are extremely high, with a peak of 43°C.  Since years we have been sending reports and complaints to the EU Commission and the Member States about the immense animal welfare problems…

Today teams from Eyes on Animals and TSB|AWF began inspecting EU livestock trucks passing the Bulgarian border and trying to enter Turkey. First we checked on Petline and Meat & Milk stables on the Turkish side, because we received information that 22 trucks with fattening cattle on board (in total approx 500 cattle) from the Czech Republic were…

Our team has inspected today 15 road transport vehicles transporting live bovines from EU member states to Turkey. The majority of animals have been found to be in a good condition. However we have found one truck that carried 2 young newborn calves that have been born during the journey to two German heifers.

That should have not happened. The…