The many grievances on the transport routes have been documented in detail over the years and have long been the subject of public criticism in Germany. Nevertheless, in 2020 more than 37,000 cattle, mostly pregnant, were transported from Germany to distant third countries such as Algeria, Libya or Uzbekistan.
In 2019, a Bavarian veterinarian refused to allow a pregnant cow to be transported 5,000 kilometers to Uzbekistan. Other official veterinarians followed, who no longer approved similar transports.
Finally, entire federal states, starting with Schleswig-Holstein, followed by Hesse and Bavaria, ordered a temporary export ban on some animal transports. However, since there was no nationwide stop, the animals continued to be shipped from other federal states to the relevant third countries. Therefore, a nationwide uniform transport stop is essential.
After filed criminal charges in four federal states in June 2020 in a total of 21 cases and the media reports on this subject increased significantly, some other federal states that handle animal transports to third countries finally issued corresponding decrees. As long as these decrees are valid, no animal transports from Germany to third countries may actually be processed or the legal requirements of the respective decrees must be observed.
However, despite these decrees, animal transports to non-European third countries are still approved by some authorities in certain federal states such as Lower Saxony or Brandenburg. As a result, the transport companies unscrupulously exploit these loopholes and the animals are taken from Bavaria to Lower Saxony, for example, only to be subjected to an extremely long transport from there to the actual destination country, such as Morocco. As a result, the animals are on the road much longer than before and Bavaria’s attempt to no longer allow transports to certain third countries is counteracted.
In February 2021, in order to prevent this approval tourism, the Federal Council called on the federal government to examine a national transport ban to certain third countries. In April 2022, the Conference of Agriculture Ministers again called on the federal government to introduce an export ban on animals to third countries. According to the Federal Council, animal welfare organizations and some legal opinions, this is possible in accordance with Section 12, Paragraph 2, No. 3 of the Animal Welfare Act.
In addition, the federal government is called upon to campaign for an end to the cruel long-distance transports at EU level. Because even if there were to be a national ban, it could be that the animals would first be sent to another EU country and from there to third countries.
Current developments in Germany and the EU on the subject of animal transport can be found here.