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Animal regs make livestod trucks endangered specie
Page 6
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In by Guy Sheppard
Proposals to improve animal welfare during transport could make 80% of current trucks used on long-distance livestock work obsolete, a haulier warns.
The report, by scientists advising the European Commission, calls for changes to travel times and loading densities with a ban on the transport of very young animals.
Derek Armstrong, director of W Armstrong (Longtown), was one of more than 20 livestock hauliers who heard details of the changes for the first time at the Road Haulage Association's Agricon conference last weekend.
He says: "From what I've heard so far the whole livestock industry would grind to a halt." He adds that 80% of existing vehicles used for transporting livestock for longer than four hours will be out of date and the cost of this work will triple. Armstrong's Cumbrian-based company runs more than 15 livestock trucks.
Eddie Harper, chairman of the RHA livestock group, says some hauliers will not have the financial resources to meet the new requirements.
"It's going to make a lot of changes to the industry and there will be casualties," he warns. "The sort of work where chaps are going from the south of the country to the north at certain times of the year could be knocked on the head altogether."
He points out that all existing three-deck livestock trucks in the UK would be prevented from making trips of more than eight hours because of a requirement for a 1.4m ceiling between decks.
Other key recommendations include: • Independent assessment of driver competence if they are making journeys of more than eight hours; • A ban on insurance of livestock against death or injury while in transit; • Lower livestock densities to allow animals to walk around and drink more easily.
The EC says lower densities will avoid the need to unload ani mals during rest periods, reducing stress and the risk of transmitting disease.
Its scientific committee found the main reasons for poor animal welfare included bad loading and unloading techniques and lack of inspection and care for animals during transport.
Harper says political sure for reform is now so E that the proposals become law by 2004.