Annually across Canada, 800 million farm animals are transported from farm to slaughter. Nearly 2 million of these animals die during the transport process, and an estimated 12 million more are injured or become ill. We have laws that govern how animals are to be treated during transport, but they are over 40 years old and are considered by experts to be the worst in the Western world.
Here are two alarming facts about Canada’s new animal transport legislation:
1.It allows animals to be transported up to 36 hours without food, water, or rest.
The proposed maximum transport times ignore what has been identified by scientific research as acceptable in terms of animal welfare, subjecting animals to dehydration and exhaustion. In Europe, regulations require that all animals who are transported longer than eight hours must be loaded onto trucks equipped with automatic water troughs.
2. It does not protect animals from extreme weather conditions.
Though this is now standard in many other countries, even those with less extreme weather conditions than Canada, the draft regulations do not require transport vehicles to be climate controlled or equipped with any kind of temperature monitoring system, thus failing to protect animals from freezing in the winter and heatstroke in the summer.
