The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in collaboration with autonomous communities, has launched, this summer, a plan of actions to control the temperature in the transport of live animals that make trips with a duration of more than 8 hours ( long trips) and to other countries, both EU Member States and third countries.
Community legislation, which regulates the protection of animals during transport and related operations, establishes that in journeys of live animals by road (equidae, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs) on long journeys, it must be kept inside of the vehicle, a temperature range of 5º C to 30º C, with a tolerance of +/- 5º C as a function of the outside temperature. For this, the vehicles must be equipped with a temperature control system, equipped with a device for recording this data.
To ensure and control compliance with the ranges established in the regulations, the plan provides that the authority of the Autonomous Community that authorizes the movement at the origin will request, once the trip is completed, the temperature records, at least, to those transports in which the temperature forecasts along the route exceed 30º C at some point. If the carrier does not provide the information within a month after the end of the trip or it is verified that the 35º C has been exceeded, the The competent authority will deny the request for a new trip, in addition to applying the sanction that may correspond, in accordance with the community and national regulations that apply to the transport of animals.
The control of temperature in the transport of live animals in the months with adverse weather conditions, as is currently the case in many European countries, Spain among them, takes on maximum importance, especially in cross-border trips in the summer.
With this plan, Spain seeks to ensure the welfare conditions of the animals that are transported during the summer season.