Animals\' Angels - wir sind bei den Tieren | we are there with the animals

… 50 billion animals (aquatic animals not included) are killed in slaughterhouses every year. Prior to slaughter, every animal is transported at least once.

…every year 50 billion animals are transported live.
The animal transport routes criss-cross the entire globe. Usually, thousands of kilometres of land and sea lie between the country of origin and the country of destination. During these journeys, the animals are subjected to extreme stress. There is hardly a species that is spared the ordeal.

Often the transport conditions frequently do not comply with the rules. Even if the laws are observed, the animals have to endure unimaginable pain and suffering. Animals’ Angels e.V. is with the animals, with the objective of ensuring that (at least) the animal welfare conditions are met, checked and documented.




By raising awareness and providing information, Animals’ Angels e.V. eventually wants to help abolish the long-distance transportation of animals.

• Agricultural subsidies of the European Union
  In many EU countries, agricultural subsidies have led to the construction of large-scale animal production facilities and to overproduction. The “excess” animals are transported to countries where there is a demand. In order to “relieve” the beef market in the EU, the export to third countries is subsidised by export refunds. Approximately 200 Euros are paid from taxpayers’ money for every live animal that is exported. Another example is the waiving of import duties: by not imposing any import duties, the import of calves into the EU is financially supported. The consequence is that calves are imported into the EU over vast distances.


• Specialisation of the industrial agriculture
  Industrial agriculture works according to the same principles as normal businesses. Each parts are separated from each other and shifted to where the production conditions allow the highest profit margin. For example, industrial animal breeding and animal husbandry are concentrated in those European regions where feed and wages are cheap or animal protection standards are low.


• Centralisation of slaughtering facilities
  Large-scale slaughterhouses were constructed with EU money. In order to fully use their capacity, they try to attract customers by offering cheap prices. Smaller, regional slaughterhouses cannot compete and shut down which results in longer animal journey times.

• Ritual slaughtering and meat preferences
  For religious and traditional reasons some countries prefer live animals so that they can slaughter them according to their own customs. For example, in 2003, 96,722 bulls  were shipped from Germany to the Middle East. Calves are transported from Germany to Spain for further fattening to obtain the highly sought-after white meat. The reason for this is that in Spain animals can be kept in conditions that are not allowed in Germany. Horses are mainly transported live, because in importing countries such as France and Italy the consumers are said not to accept any refrigerated meat.

If you wish to obtain statistical figures about the transport of animals from for example the German Federal Statistical Office, it becomes clear that animals are regarded as goods. First, you must indicate the appropriate commodity code, and then you receive the requested information in pieces or tons. The live animal market functions according to the same pattern as the market for inanimate objects: supply and demand, purchasing price and profit margin.

Depending on the species, animals may be transported in trucks with one to four decks. Horses are allowed to travel in single-deck trucks only, cattle in double-decker trucks, pigs, sheep and calves in triple-decker trucks and young animals, such as lambs and piglets, can be transported in quadruple-decker trucks. Also the number of animals per compartment or per square meter is stipulated by the law.

Large animal transport trucks, used for example for the transport of horses, have a loading area of 33 to 38 m², i.e. between 18 and 22 adult horses can be loaded onto one truck (1.75 m² according to the German Regulation on the protection of animals during transport ‘TierSchTrVO’). However, we have already seen trucks with 35 horses on board. The maximum number of animals per transport truck is 30 – 35 for adult cattle, approximately 150 for pigs, 700 for lambs and 350 for sheep. Overloading and crammed conditions are the most serious problems associated with animal transportation.

In the best case, the farmer himself transports the animal to the nearest slaughterhouse which is within one or two hours. However, in most cases the animals are bought by dealers at livestock markets or trading centres and transported to distant slaughterhouses. The Animals’ Angels teams have documented some examples of long-distance animal transports and journey times involved. The rest periods at the EU staging posts (stables) are included in these journey times. But even during these rest breaks the animals will not be able to rest and are exposed to further stress.

• Horses from Belarus to Sardinia - Duration: 5 days.
• Sheep from Spain to Greece - Duration: 4 days.
• Calves from Germany to Spain - Duration: 25 hours.
• Bulls from Germany to the Lebanon - Duration: 6 – 8 days.

For animals transported by ship from Australia to Egypt, the total journey takes approximately 3 weeks. These are average travel times. Unforeseen delays caused by accidents, traffic jams on motorways or at the borders are not included.

Only a small number of controls and checks are carried out by the state authorities. For this reason, only very conscientious hauliers actually unload, feed and water the animals. For long-distance transports the vehicles must have sufficient supplies of feed and be equipped with a water supply system. Time and again we have witnessed that the animals were unable to operate and use the drinking facilities, because these facilities were for example either unsuitable for the animal species, located in the wrong place and/or insufficient in number for the number of animals being transported.