19 March 2021 - 1,610 young cattle finally arrived in the port of Cartagena on Thursday night on the Elbeik after a three-month ordeal through the Mediterranean, following a request from the Spanish authorities. Although Spain knew about the bluetongue disease in some of the animals on board a few days after the ship left in December last year, the Elbeik was not called back, knowing that it would be turned away in the destination country. The global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS has been at the port for a few days and has already reported on the resumption of cruel animal transports at sea - the ships stopped a week after 864 young bulls from the Karim Allah, which had also been en route for almost three months, had to be emergency slaughtered. The lives of the young bulls on the Elbeik are currently in the hands of the veterinarians - at best they will be killed on site. However, there is also talk of whether the animals can be exported again. FOUR PAWS is appalled that this is even under discussion and demands an immediate end to live animal exports to non-EU countries.

Yesterday, three months ago to the day, on 18 December 2020, the Elbeik, a live animal transporter, docked in Tarragona, Spain. The animals were supposedly sold to the Middle East. Rumours about an alleged bluetongue disease on board foiled the plans and so the 54-year-old transport ship wandered through the Mediterranean for three months. Cruel detail: Already a few days after the Elbeik had departed, the Spanish authorities knew about the animal disease on board. Instead of ordering the ship back to Europe, the Elbeik docked in Turkish waters and was therefore bound to set course for a three-month ordeal, because once live animals have been exported from the EU, they may no longer be (re-)imported into the EU. 179 animals died during the voyage due to the disastrous conditions on board.

In the hands of the veterinarians

The European Union's transport regulations state that animals must be declared "fit for transport" (Art.3b) in order to be exported. To do this, the animals' state of health must first be examined by veterinarians.