In future, regular feeding and constant availability of water must be ensured. In addition, transport may only take place at outside temperatures between five and 30 degrees if the truck is not air-conditioned. Animal Welfare Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) announced the new regulation on Thursday.
To ensure that the rules are adhered to, the conditions must be documented with photos and videos. “Animals are not goods. They are sentient beings. We are now creating even stricter standards for the welfare of animals,” said Rauch. In addition, stricter controls will also be possible for shipping in the future. According to the ministry, the regulation will largely come into force on Friday. Only the regulations on certain drinking water provisions will have a transition period until July 2025 due to the necessary conversions.
Every year, around 100,000 cattle and calves are loaded onto transporters in Austria. Their journey to other EU countries or third countries often takes days. The animals are often exposed to thirst, heat or cold. Many creatures die painfully due to dehydration or as a result of the heat.
Commitment to constant availability of water
The new rules cover all transports of so-called farm animals, which include cattle and calves as well as pigs, sheep and goats. According to information from Rauch’s office, 12,500 animal transports are processed in this country every year.
In future, all animals must be fed milk or milk substitute for calves after nine hours at the latest. There is also an obligation to ensure that water is always available for all adult animals, not just cattle, but also pigs, sheep and goats on long-distance journeys.
In order to ensure that temperatures remain between five and 30 degrees during loading and throughout the entire transport, a weather tool specially developed by Geosphere Austria must be used to forecast the weather along the route. Otherwise, the vehicle must be air-conditioned.
The new regulation also contains requirements regarding the equipment of the transporters in terms of the quality of drinking troughs, height and technical equipment such as navigation systems or tachographs. In order to better monitor the requirements, the rules for animal transport must be documented with a logbook and tachograph as well as with photos or videos. These documents must be sent to the authorities after the journey. In the case of implausible planning, transports can now be prohibited more easily or more severe penalties can be imposed in the event of violations, the ministry said.
“Big step to prevent unbearable animal suffering”
“The new regulation is a big step towards preventing unbearable animal suffering during transport, as animal welfare organizations repeatedly document,” said Rauch.
The organization Vier Pfoten welcomed the new rules and sees a lot of progress, but demands much more: “First of all: Even if the regulation contains important steps in the right direction, we stick to our demand for a complete ban on the transport of unweaned young animals and a general ban on long-distance animal transport to third countries,” said campaign manager Veronika Weissenböck.
The Association Against Animal Factories (VGT) also sees improvements, but also advocates a ban on the transport of unweaned mammals, such as calves under two months old. In addition, a maximum transport time of eight hours should apply for all (weaned) animals.