Eyes on Animals inspectors inspected a private weekly livestock market near Brugge in Belgium. Today 78 "slaughter" horses were for sale. Together with the director we checked on the condition of the horses. All animals were in very good shape. The floor of the market was recently redone so that it is now non-slip, reducing the chances of animals falling and hurting themselves. Stallions were kept in individual stalls to avoid stress or fighting with mares and other stallions. The loading ramps were all equipped with lateral protection so that animals could be correctly loaded and unloaded. We were told that any animal arriving in poor shape is automatically not accepted. Because of this rule such attempts are rare. They have a market rule that no one is allowed to use sticks or other tools to hit animals, and on this day we indeed did not see any sticks in the hands of the traders. There is a full-time private veterinarian at this market, and official government veterinarian inspectors show up regularly. We were satisfied with the conditions at the market. We thank the market director and the veterinarian for being open with us and for having made efforts to protect animals at their market. We plan to come back at a future date when cattle are sold here.
Eyes on Animals -
26.02.2009 Inspection of a "slaughter" horse market in Belgium
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Markets and collecting stations
Farm animals are often sold and bought at livestock markets, or collected at stations where larger trucks come to pick them up later to transport them further. These places can be very stressful for animals, and are also unfortunately a great place for diseases to spread. Animals are brought in from many different places, unloaded from the truck, often weighed one at a time, and then rushed towards different pens where they are forced to wait for hours, sometimes without water, feed or bedding. Animals that were raised together, and even mothers and their offspring, can be separated. The animals are then reloaded onto new trucks with unfamiliar animals, which can cause fighting, and head to a new destination. Eyes on Animals regularly conducts unannounced visits of livestock markets and collecting stations in the Netherlands and Belgium. We check on conditions of the unloading equipment and pens and make sure that unfit animals are given a quiet area to rest, or if serious, immediately euthanized. We are in dialogue with the managers about providing water and bedding for the animals, milking females in lactation, and reducing any rough handling or other unnecessary causes of animal suffering.
