EU Equine Transit legislation

Tuesday, 15 November 2011 10:59

The charity World Horse Welfare has been reported as dismayed to learn that the suggested changes to long distance transportation for horses being led to slaughter in Europe have been ignored, meaning that the poor treatment and increased distress of the animals during transit will continue.

The charity is worried that the animal welfare problems will persist, and as scientific evidence exists to show that changes in the transportation procedures are required the charity believes that something needs to be done to enforce current laws, as introducing new legislation will not effectively stop the current levels of maltreatment.

Their original recommendations that were ignored included a maximum suggested transport time of between 9- 12 hours, which would have been a change that would have drastically cut the amount of suffering experienced by these horses.

World Horse Welfare will continue to campaign for the reduction in intense travel and transport limits that the horses are currently subject to, and in doing so hope to make the European Commission listen to the evidence that they are providing. Animal Friends Insurance hopes that the charity can make the Commission listen and improve the standards of welfare for those horses across the EU.