Fitness for Transport Guidelines Provide Animal Welfare Boost
(13.01.2012) The “Guidelines to assess fitness for transport of adult bovine animals”, prepared by Eurogroup for animals, Animals’ Angels, UECBV ‘(European Livestock and Meat Trading Union), FVE (Federation of Veterinarians of Europe), IRU (International Road Transport Union) and ELT (European Livestock Transporters) are officially published.
These guidelines are designed to provide easy to understand help and advice to professionals involved in the transport of adult bovines and aim to improve animal welfare throughout the transport process.
The Guidelines are extremely visual and use photographs and simple texts to help all operators decide on the suitability of an adult bovine animal for transport.
Improving the welfare of animals during their transport is in everyone’s interest. Transporting animals that are unfit not only causes animal suffering but could also lead to penalties, financial losses and the withdrawal of the authorisation of the transporter and/or the driver as well.
The Guidelines do not represent the real situation in Europe today but provide a comprehensive list of situations that may occur and the conditions that may result in an animal being classed as unfit to transport to help operators ensure animal welfare is constantly maximised.
The Guidelines are available in English, German, Spanish and French. Italian and Portuguese versions will be ready before the end of the month and other language versions are currently being considered.
If you are a veterinarian, you can request a copy through your national veterinary association. FVE members can download their copy from the restricted FVE website.
Other professionals can request a copy at mailto:info@uecbv.eu
