In the case of the 69 cattle that died on the Bulgarian-Turkish border, the German Animal Welfare Association has filed criminal charges against the transport company on suspicion of cruelty to animals.
“The transport company had the cattle in its care and put them in a life-threatening situation that led to considerable pain and suffering and ultimately to the death of all the animals. When entry into Turkey was denied, the defendants took no action to protect the animals from disease, injury and agonizing death. The pregnant cattle were penned up for weeks and exposed to extreme conditions,” says Evelyn Ofensberger, head of the legal department at the German Animal Welfare Association. Under the most adverse conditions - without exercise, sufficient food and water or the opportunity to lie down and while a thick sludge of excrement collected under the animals - some cattle had to give birth to their calves.
The allegedly unexpected import ban by the Turkish authorities is no justification for the martyrdom the cattle had to endure, Ofensberger clarifies: “The transport company deliberately took such a risk, although it is known that unexpected obstacles that delay or completely stop a transport can regularly be expected on long-distance journeys.” In the view of the German Animal Welfare Association, the defendants acted deliberately because they accepted the pain and suffering of the animals.
The two trucks with 69 pregnant cattle had set off on 12 September 2024 from Schönwalde in the Elbe-Elster district of Brandenburg towards the city of Konja in Turkey, around 3,000 kilometers away. The Office for Veterinary Services, Food Inspection and Agriculture in Herzberg had previously approved and cleared the long-distance transport. At the Bulgarian-Turkish border near Kapile, the Turkish authorities refused entry to the transport on September 16 due to an outbreak of bluetongue disease in Brandenburg. In catastrophic conditions on the trucks, seven of the 69 cattle and the 13 calves born during this time died within the next few weeks. On October 15, the still-living animals, which were in a pitiful condition and could barely walk, were taken by the transport company to a nearby slaughterhouse, where they were slaughtered without stunning. The unborn calves died after their mothers died in the womb.
The German Animal Welfare Association has forwarded the criminal complaint against the unknown transport company to the Cottbus public prosecutor's office. The association is pressing for a complete investigation and appropriate punishment.
