25^th May 2005

PRESS RELEASE FROM COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING – IRELAND

Farm animal welfare group CIWF applauds OIE decision to adopt global standards for animal transport and slaughter.

The leading international farm animal welfare campaigning group, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), applauds the decision by delegates of the OIE (World Animal Health Organisation) to adopt global standards for the transport and slaughter of live farm animals.

A vote taken yesterday by delegates from the 167 member countries at the OIE’s 73^rd annual general session in Paris, adopted global standards for the protection of animals during transport and at slaughter. These standards, which are a voluntary code, are the first-ever global animal transport standards. As such, they mark a very significant step forward in the furtherance of animal protection throughout the world.

The standards, which cover Sea transport, Land transport, Slaughter for Human Consumption and Slaughter for Disease Control, were unanimously adopted during the OIE’s annual meeting.

Mary-Anne Bartlett, Director of CIWF-Ireland, says: “The adoption of global animal welfare standards is of enormous significance to billions of farm animals currently suffering during transport and at slaughter throughout the world. CIWF has been lobbying the OIE for many years for the development and adoption of these standards and we are delighted that these guidelines have today been adopted.”

The adoption of these first-ever international standards during the OIE’s 73^rd annual general session will give the OIE’s member countries a framework within which exists the potential to improve the welfare of the billions of farm animals which are transported and slaughtered across the globe each year.

About 300 delegates from the OIE meeting attended a reception hosted by CIWF in Paris. Delegates were shown a new CIWF film, “Animal Welfare: The World Is Watching”. This was filmed in various countries around the world and shows graphic scenes of animal cruelty during transport and at slaughter. It includes calls from concerned citizens from every continent in support of global standards in animal welfare. The film shows clearly the terrible conditions in which millions of horses, pigs, cattle and sheep, as well as other farm animals, are transported.

Scenes on the film include:

- Dead farm animals piled on the deck of a ship that travelled from Australia to Kuwait; surviving animals went for slaughter without any pre-stunning.

- Horses transported for several days from Namibia to South Africa, some with broken limbs, others too exhausted or ill to stand.

- Pigs which endured a 28 hour journey from Canada to California without food or water in intense heat, were held for 34 hours in ship containers and then suffered a 5 day sea journey to Hawaii.

The OIE standards will take immediate effect within the OIE’s 167 member countries when they are formally adopted on Friday 27^th May.