Journey to Death The live Export of horses for meat from Poland

Laws not enforced Farmed animals are sentient beings, capable of feeling pain. After years of campaigning by animal rights activists, this simple fact has now been recognised and accepted by the European Union in the Treaty of Rome. The real paradox of the current situation is that existing Polish animal welfare regulations could be used immediately to ban this cruel and inexcusable trade in live horses (see appendix A). Mr. Wojciechowski, chairman of Poland’s Supreme Control Chamber (NIK), in a debate in Poland’s Parliament on 20 July, 2000, described the country’s failure to implement its animal protection laws with these words: “The Animal Welfare Act is practically a dead letter ... because it is not enforced”. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the transport of horses for slaughter, where virtually every single legal requirement is ignored. Chapter 2 (Animal Welfare Act) Specific rules and conditions on the carriage of animals Para. 4. 1. In the carriage of animals the carrier is obliged to use means of transport suitable for the given animal species and age group. 2. The means of transport referred to in section 1 above should ensure safe and humane carriage. In particular, they should: 1) provide enough space for each animal, allowing it to stand or lie down; 2) have insulated walls and roofing to protect animals against weather impact; 3) provide sufficient ventilation, and if necessary, heating; 4) have a floor preventing animals from slipping and ensuring hygienic conditions during carriage; 5) have enough bedding material to absorb the excreta and ensure animal comfort and safety; 6) be fitted with catches strong enough to fasten hoofed animals to; 7) be fitted with facilities making animal feeding and watering possible; and ensure access to each animal. On the available evidence, almost every single one of these legal requirements is not met. In 1999, the EU stated that Poland needed to make the greatest improvements in veterinary legislation among all new accessing countries. There are few signs that such a requirement is being fulfilled amongst any farmed animals and particularly not for horses. The Polish Supreme Control Chamber (NIK.), which controls the live horse export trade, found that (15): - none of the Polish border crossing points is equipped to the necessary standards to meet the humanitarian requirements for animal handling; - a large part of the Polish horse trade and transportation is illegal, with private businesses operating without permits, without paying taxes and with no veterinary control. - even those businesses acting legally, frequently ignore animal welfare codes by overcrowding trucks, using vehicles not suitable for transporting animals, transporting animals who are unrestrained and keeping animals for days without food and drink in order to reduce costs. As a consequence, 70 per cent of all transports result in some fatalities during the journey. - animals are beaten to speed up the loading and unloading of vehicles. - the certificates of origin required by law for each animal (including in the EU) are a joke. It seems that anyone can obtain them, even those not actually running a relevant business. False data is readily accepted and a similar situation pertains with the filing of journey plans, where all stops and journey times are supposed to be approved by a vet. This simply isn’t happening. As a result, in 70 per cent of the transports controlled by NIK., it was impossible to determine the identity of animals and their owners. In the event of disease (and the history of BSE provides a prime example), the authorities would be incapable of tracing the outbreak to its source and would find it impossible to take effective action to control the disease. The present lack of controls provides a foolproof opportunity for animal theft. According to NIK., this worrying situation has been tolerated and exacerbated by the Polish veterinary service because of its refusal to enforce the laws requiring dealers and transport companies to provide authentic certificates of origin. Much of the loading takes place without the presence of veterinarians - in 1999, 37 per cent of horses exported from Poland were not checked for infectious diseases by vets. Supposedly, the law does not allow export without such an examination (15). It follows that there is a similar lack of inspection to ascertain whether animals are sick or too weak to withstand the journey and if the vehicles are suitable for animal transport or if they are loaded according to the regulations. The law requires that all exporting companies should be licensed, which in theory means that the license can be revoked if the regulations are ignored or broken. Sadly, this remains purely theoretical even though all the laws governing the transport of horses are enforceable in Poland. According to NIK, 69 per cent of Poland’s border crossing points have no facilities and technical equipment for veterinary control and inspection or to ensure animal welfare standards are met. EU experts have stated that none of the border crossing points meet EU standards and in one voice with NIK., have described the functioning of Poland’s veterinary services as “incorrect and ineffective” (3). During control procedures, NIK found that in two selected controlled crossing points, in the years 1997-99, 103 animal transporters exporting from Poland were never inspected by veterinarians. NIK also found that at every one of Poland’s road crossing points, some 48 per cent of the facilities and 40 per cent of transporting firms failed on basic sanitary, veterinary, feeding and animal safety requirements. It established that the majority of transports are overloaded, which is the cause of death in many cases; that 70 per cent of those involved in the trade - and even the state itself - had inadequate procedures for checking animal certificates of origin. NIK’s analysis of 1,036 certificates of origin for animals exported from the Tarnow region of south-east Poland revealed that: - there were no legible signatures or stamps on 1,004 certificates (97 per cent of the total) and 123 were not signed at all; - ages of animals were not shown on 404 certificates (39 per cent); - there were no dates of validity on 894 certificates (86 per cent). Certificates are valid for two weeks but if undated they can be used many times for many different animals; - dates on 61 certificates (six per cent) had expired between 12 and 24 months earlier - 83 certificates (eight per cent) had no issuing date; - eight certificates (0.8 per cent) failed to mention the type of animals being transported. - on 12 certificates (one per cent), the written name of the community of origin was different to that of the stamp. This catalogue of failures, incompetence, disinterest and fraud shows that Polish claims that the horse trade is well regulated are nothing more than rhetoric. Not only do these failures represent a welfare disaster but they also have serious implications for the spread of diseases throughout Europe (as foot and mouth disease has shown) and ensures that the animals are almost invariably not traceable (a factor in the spread of BSE in Britain). Again Mr. Piotr Kozerski, at the London embassy, appears ignorant of the facts when he said to Viva!: “The export of horses from Poland is subject to rigorous regulations which, among others, refer to humane transportation of horses. The reasons for that are not only natural and historical - i.e. a traditionally great respect for horses - but also Poland’s will and obligation to comply with the requirements laid down by the EU with regard to humane conveyance of animals.” We are forced to ask how Poland would treat its horses if it had no respect for them. To show just how easy it is for anyone to obtain a certificate of origin for animals, in October 1997, two veterinary doctors applied for one in the town of Nowy Sacz. Although all the data they supplied was false, the certificate was duly issued (3). The Parliament of the Republic of Poland, in the last few years, has consistently failed to enforce the legislation which is at its disposal and has effectively legalised the suffering and barbaric treatment of hundreds of thousands of horses. The passage of the Animal Protection Act in 1997 can perhaps be seen in retrospect as a cynical attempt to claim civilised standards of treatment for animals which it was never intended to enforce. Such widespread flouting of the law could only come about through the large-scale connivance of members of parliament and ministers and by their placing illegal profit above and beyond the civilised and humane treatment of animals. It provides a stark warning for Polish democracy when elected members of parliament and government ministers choose which laws they will enforce and which they will ignore. The Polish people have the right to demand that all laws passed in their name are enforced with equal vigour otherwise democracy becomes nothing more than a shallow pretence and a cover for greed and self interest. The stark facts behind the trade in horses does not communicate the emotional impact that first hand experience of it invokes in those without a vested interest. Some of those who have worked the hardest to defend these animals are unashamedly emotional as a result of their experiences. Their reports also give an indication of the heartlessness which drives this trade. Again it includes veterinarians, who consistently seem to identify themselves with the meat industry rather than the welfare of the animals and are far more interested in inspecting paperwork than the animals themselves. This is not a criticism of Poland, Germany, Italy or any of the other countries involved but a criticism of veterinary practice in the developed world. These people could stop the live export trade tomorrow if they were to enforce existing laws and regulations. They have chosen not to do so for financial reasons, both corporate and personal. Although the EU boasts of high animal welfare standards, its regulations on live transportation vary from country to country with no coherent policy. Even those policies which are in existence are rarely policed and so Polish horses are offered no additional protection once they enter EU countries (see Effectiveness of EU Laws). The Scale of the Problem Each year, around 100,000 horses are exported from Central and Eastern Europe for slaughter in Italy, France and Belgium in what can fairly be described as one of the cruellest and least regulated aspects of Europe’s live animal trade. Poland is the biggest exporter of live horses for slaughter in Europe and its annual total amounts to 87,000 animals exported to the EU - 90 per cent going to Italy and 10 per cent to France and Belgium. Ten years ago, there were one million horses in Poland but that number has now been reduced to 500,000. Nevertheless, each year, the drain continues (1). The majority come from small farmers who sell them to middlemen who then deliver them to the collection points of the principal transporting firms. The breed most favoured is the handsome and powerful Polish working horse, easily identified by its broad chest, chestnut body and flaxen main and tail. It bears a strong resemblance to the British Suffolk Punch horses, once common in the Fenlands of Eastern England. The biggest horse market takes place in March at Skaryszew, where Viva! filmed in the winter of 2000. Other major markets are Kiekrz near Poznan, Malbork, Kolobrzeg and Czestochowa, south of Warsaw, where thousands of horses are sold in a single day. The major registered horse traders in Poland are Animex SA, Warsaw (owned by Smithfield Foods Inc., USA) and Cosmos Czestochowa. Because of the high demand for horse meat, the trade is not only merely a means of disposal of old or unwanted horses. The financial rewards have encouraged farmers to sell fit and healthy horses, from four to seven years old, with a working life ahead of them. Other farmers are breeding horses additional to their needs in order to profit from the trade. The average weight of the horses sold for meat is 600kg and the price fetched is approximately (US) $0.60 cents per kilo. Therefore the average total value of a live horse is $360 (approximately £240 sterling). Most of the exported horses are sent from Poland to Italy, which involves an horrendously long journey. One of the furthest destinations is Sardinia, a journey of 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) which may take as long as 95 hours. Both from Polish markets and those in Lithuania, horses are taken to the border crossing at Cieszyn, between Poland and the Czech Republic. The dangers the animals face include overcrowding, which can result in them falling and being trampled on. These dangers increase as the journey progresses because of the practice of loading additional horses en route through Poland. There is an almost complete absence of veterinary inspection so by the time the horses reach the Czech border, they are already often ill or injured. It is supposedly illegal to transport diseased or injured animals from Poland and these horses should be off loaded. Viva!’s investigation reveals, however, that sick and injured horses are being transported and rest periods are being ignored. After just a three-hour break - rather than the 24 hours required by law - horses are reloaded onto the lorries to continue their last journey regardless of their condition. The relentless nature of the trade is revealed by the export figures. Comparative Figures: Live exports through Cieszyn crossing point 1999/2000 Month 2000 Horse numbers Truck numbers 1 Jan 5,204 212 2 Feb 4,625 191 3 March 4,485 187 Total for this quarter 14,314 590 Same period 1999 19,863 800 4 April 3,093 131 5 May 3,845 164 6 June 3,503 152 Total for this quarter 10,441 447 Same period 1999 17,667 738 7 July 3,173 137 8 Aug 3,095 131 9 Sept 2,896 122 Total for this quarter 9,164 390 Same period 1999 17,184 717 (Source: Agrosped Zebrzydowice, October 2000) From Cieszyn, the horses are trucked all the way to Slovenia through the Czech Republic and then onwards through Slovakia and Hungary. This circuitous route is to avoid the stricter veterinary controls presently in force in Austria. Although common, this practice is illegal and prolongs the travelling time for many hours. The swaying trucks make it difficult for the horses to remain upright, especially when they are tightly tethered to the vehicle bars. This practice is carried out to stop them from biting each other and is prohibited by law. Article 6, 7 of the Animal Welfare Act states: “Tightly tethering animals in a way that forces them into an unnatural position, causing unnecessary pain, injury or death, is forbidden.” Every time the vehicle brakes, negotiates a corner or even changes gear, the horses have to shift their weight to avoid falling. Sometimes they lose their balance and do fall. Once down, they are likely to be trampled and wounded by their companions. For injured horses and smaller ponies and foals, this combination of overcrowding and lack of segregation by size can be deadly. Downed horses may be unable to rise again, resulting in their struggling desperately to regain their feet, being urinated and defecated on, stood on and, not infrequently, being trampled to death (3). Upon arrival at the staging points, these downed horses are either dragged off the truck with chains or are subjected to violent treatment to induce them to stand. This can involve brutal kickings, beatings with heavy sticks or being goaded with an electric cattle prod, inserted into their rectum (4). Even the healthiest of horses are liable to fall under the prevailing conditions of transport because the long journey times - commonly as long as four days without rest which invariably leads to exhaustion. The effect of these conditions is that by the time the horses reach Hungary, just half way through their journey to the Italian abattoirs, many are already in a dreadful condition - exhausted and dehydrated (5). Numerous injuries have been observed, such as eye, head, chest or leg wounds and some horses are already dying or dead. By this stage of their journey, all the horses are experiencing profound stress. They enter the EU at Gorizia in northern Italy, on the Slovenian border, by which time increasing numbers are in an advanced stages of physical and mental deterioration or are dead. Many of those who have survived this far still face long journeys - as far as Bari in southern Italy, to the west coast of Italy and onwards by ferry to Sardinia, where they are driven across the island to be slaughtered in Cagliari. On arrival at the slaughterhouses they are again brutally treated and are either driven or, because of their poor condition and inability to stand, are frequently dragged from the lorries into what can only be described as killing factories. The normal process of slaughter is stunning - required by law - followed by throat cutting. The usual method of stunning is the captive bolt pistol, which drives a four inch metal bolt into the animals’ foreheads. The concussive effect of this impact supposedly renders them unconscious. All too often, this requirement is either ignored or done incompetently and the animals regain consciousness while their throats are being slit. Many are slaughtered in full view of the others, which is a further contravention of the law on slaughter (5). Some of the slaughter-bound horses from Poland were originally bred for racing but are either no longer competitive or have failed to make the grade. Many of the horses used to entertain Polish children by providing rides at summer camps, ranches and riding academies are also sold for meat when they can no longer perform. Other horses who make up the export trade include a large number of retired agricultural working horses, camp, show and rental horses and urban carriage horses. It is often impossible to ascertain the true background of horses because of the lack of reliable animal origin certificates in Poland. This lack of control can result in consumer fraud and horse theft, the thieves knowing that they will easily obtain a false certificate of origin with no questions asked and no investigations carried out. As a consequence, many old, weak, tired and injured horses - even blind horses (6) are forced to endure interminable journeys in appalling conditions. There is no peaceful end or retirement after a life time’s labour for Polish horses. Seemingly, loyalty plays no part in the final chapter of their lives and they are condemned to face death in cramped trailers often with no food or water. Their suffering is acute and involves: - unevenly loaded lorries - transporting young animals with adult stock - transporting chronically diseased horses - fitting ventilation bars so closely together that it is impossible to feed or water animals through them. Transit of horses trough Poland (mostly from Lithuania to Italy) First half of 1996 5,024 First half of 1997 2,245 First quarter of 1998 1,830 First quarter of 1999 2,413 First quarter of 2000 2,489 Viva! believes that the consumption of horse meat is unnecessary and retrograde in terms of animal welfare, morality and human health. However, the live horse trade begs the question why does it exists at all? Why are animals forced to endure such terrible suffering over such long distances simply to be killed on arrival? This almost certainly has more to do with the way in which the meat is sold after slaughter - labelled as French, Belgian or Italian rather than Polish or Lithuanian and commanding a higher price. Clearly, what begins as an abuse of democracy ends in a similar way. Horse slaughter for human consumption is not inevitable and does not have to be accepted in a civilised society. It has already been outlawed in California when, in 1998, the people of California became the first in the US to ban it. They went further and the legislation prohibits any California horse from being shipped out of the state for the purpose of slaughter for human consumption. Californians voted overwhelmingly for this humanitarian law under a state initiative - Proposition 6. In Britain, although it would be considered a restriction of trade under EU regulations to ban the export of horses for meat, a series of minimum value requirements has limited the trade - placing the minimum value at which a horse can be exported above that which makes the horse meat trade profitable. There has been an erosion of this restriction as horse meat prices have risen and a limited trade is underway. Most British people have consistently shown their revulsion at this trade and believe that it was banned some years ago. They are unaware that it still continues but at a lower level and it is something Viva! will be addressing in the future. Poland’s situation is that existing laws which could be used to ban the trade are simply being ignored despite protests from numerous animal welfare groups all over Europe. In the EU, transport of live animals is regulated by Directive 91/628, issued on 19 November 1991, and all animal transport within the EU and for export and import, is supposed to be in accordance with these regulations. In theory, no animal - from cattle to horses - should travel for more than eight hours in ‘basic’ vehicles without being unloaded, fed, watered and rested for 24 hours. Transport firms are supposed to, provide a written commitment to respect the directive, including providing a travel plan. In reality, protection for animals in the EU are little better than in Poland, as will be shown later. Dr Franz Fischler, member of the European Commission responsible for agriculture and rural development, declared that animal welfare will be his major priority: ”The new Treaty of Amsterdam promotes animal welfare as an objective to be given full regard in the Community's agriculture, transport, internal market and research policies. This was laid down in a supplementary protocol complementing the Treaty in the field of animal welfare.” (14) US Transnational Involvement In April 1999, a giant of the US meat industry, Smithfield Foods Incorporated - the biggest meat corporation in the US which slaughtered 11.6 million pigs in 1999 - acquired Animex, Poland's largest live animal exporter and meat producer (13). It was previously a state meat-trading monopoly with nine processing plants located across the country and export trading offices in Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria, the US and Japan. Export markets make up about 26 per cent of Animex’s sales. Since the acquisition, Smithfield Foods Inc. now controls most of the horse export trade and has the power to exert influence over government policies (8). According to the Washington Post, (July 3, 2000), Andrzej Lepper - leader of the Polish farmers’ trade union Samoobrona - is accusing Animex of offering him a $1,000,000 bribe to end his activity against factory farms (8). Smithfield Foods’ head office is at 200 Commerce Street, Smithfield, VA 23430, Phone: (757) 365-3000 and the organisation is headed by Joseph W. Luter, III, Chairman and CEO. It’s growth has been phenomenal over the last four years, making it the largest pork producer in the US. Number of Sows (2000): 695,000 (1999): 785,000 (1998): 152,000 (1997): 120,000 The vast majority of these sows are kept in close confinement stalls and gestation (farrowing) crates for their entire lives. They are unable ever to turn around. This is factory farming at its worst. Sales in 1999 totalled $3.8 billion and gross profits amounted to $540 million. According to the environmental monitoring group, Hogwatch, the company has become a world leader in pork production by systematically acquiring pig production and processing facilities in the United State and overseas. It became the world's largest producers of pigs when it acquired Murphy Farms in 1999 for $460 million. Today Smithfield owns 695,000 sows on industrial-sized operations in North Carolina, Virginia, Utah, Missouri, Oklahoma and Illinois. These sows give birth to an average of nearly 38,802 piglets every day making it a major producer of pigs for the entire market. In North Carolina, Murphy Farms, Carroll's Foods, Brown's of North Carolina and Quarter M farms are all subsidiaries of Smithfield Foods Inc. Smithfield Foods is also the world's largest processor of pork. In fact, the company operates the world's largest processing plant strategically located in Bladen County, North Carolina, which slaughters on average 28,000 hogs a day. During peak periods it can be up to 32,000 hogs a day. The company also owns two other processing facilities in the Southeast and two in the Midwest, which gives it an aggregate slaughter capacity of 78,300 hogs a day and represents 72 per cent of the slaughter capacity in the South Atlantic region. Smithfield Foods has succeeded in creating a network of pig producers and processors that ensures a steady supply of animals for slaughter. This strategy has resulted in record profits for the company over the past three years (36). It was found to have ‘egregious and pervasive’ federal labour law violations during two campaigns by trade unions to recruit workers at the Tar heel slaughterhouse in the 1990s, according to another environmental monitoring group, Sierra Club. It was also found to have conspired with the local sheriff's office to ‘physically intimidate and assault union supporters, held meetings to intimidate and threaten workers for supporting the union and illegally fired workers during union recruiting campaigns (35). Smithfield Foods was also fined $12.6 million by the Environmental Protection Agency for sewage discharges and other violations (35). Smithfield's slaughterhouse in Tar Heel discharges three million gallons of treated waste water every day into the Cape Fear river. Again, according to the Sierra Club, between January 1993 and October 1997, state regulators documented at least 120 violations of pollution as set forth in the plant's operating permit. Officials have issued at least 34 Notices of Violation for permit violations or for spills and discharges involving either animal waste, blood and grease, airborne blood, animal remains, sludge or caustic substances. To date, Smithfield has paid approximately $54,452 in fines for the environmental violations at this plant (35). John Morrell & Company, who operate a pig slaughterhouse in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was bought out by Smithfield Foods in 1996. This slaughterhouse also had a history of fines and a penalty of $3 million for criminal violations of the Clean Water Act. They admitted to violating the Act 130 times during a 17-month period between August 1991 and December 1992 (35). States such as North and South Carolina have created moratoriums on the creation of more pig farms. Due to concerns about large-scale pollution from animal waste, the governor of South Carolina imposed a moratorium on these large scale farms until their environmental regulators could consider the permits. Smithfield is applying for permission to open two farms containing 32,000 pigs. They already have 30 factory farms in South Carolina with about 5,000 pigs on each (35). The Threat to Human Health Horse meat is frequently sold as a low-fat, healthy alternative to other meats. The evidence does not support this claim and horse meat can be a serious threat to human health. Many drugs commonly given to horses can be extremely dangerous to humans. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that there are few, if any, controls governing most slaughter horses and little is known of their background and history. More than 400 people in the Toulouse region of France were stricken with a potentially life-threatening intestinal parasite after eating imported horsemeat. It emerged that the victims had contracted trichinella threadworms, which are fatal in five out of 1,000 cases (7). On January 31, 2000, the BBC reported on the growing controversy and concern over the use of growth promoting hormones and other drugs used in US meat production, including horsemeat. Currently, Polish horsemeat is considered safe despite the almost complete absence of veterinary control. However, there is ample evidence to show that poor control leads to gross abuse of drugs and animals. The resignation of the Bavarian agriculture minister in January 2001, following a scandal which involved a major trade in providing illegal drugs for use in farmed animals, reveals the potential scale of the problem. With numerous and increasing threats to human health from eating meat (BSE, E.coli, salmonella, antibiotic resistant superbugs, etc.,) Viva! intends to highlight this absence of control and the threat it poses. Drugs dangerous to human health are regularly administered to all horses, including race and show horses. It is clearly written on every worming medication label that it should not be administered to horses who are to be slaughtered for human consumption (4). The lack of controls and unreliable certificates of origin ensure that all types of horses are used in the horse meat trade, regardless of their health status, medical background or recent exposure to highly-toxic medications. > Previous Section > Next Section