There are eighteen ships carrying live animals that are delayed because of the Suez Canal blockage. Five more ships are waiting in the Mediterranean Sea, George Evgenidis from the vessel tracking service MarineTraffic tells The Animal Reader.
The ship Nabolsi left the port of Cartagena in Colombia on March the 6th and has been the longest at sea, more than three weeks, from all the vessels in the area.
On Monday, the ship EverGiven, which got stuck and blocked all traffic in the Suez Canal, was refloated. Canal authority announced that traffic would continue at the end of the day.
The Omega Star, Unimar Livestock, Gamma Star, Fidelity and Victory left Spain with live animals onboard and was delayed in the area.
The Tulip, Dragon, Jersey, Sea Star Livestock, Taiba, Lady Rasha, Lady Maria, Britta, Harmony Livestock, Mariona Star, Al Farouk left from Romania carrying animals.
The Maysora left the port of Fremantle in Australia. The Nabolsi and Nada left from Colombia.
The Freedom, Maysa and Abdullah left from the port of Jeddah in Saudi-Arabia. And the ship Elevation left from the port of Umm Qasr in Iraq.
Evgenidis added that you can only see the port from which a ship left and their direct destination. Their final destination could be further.
The Animal Reader has spoken to many animal welfare organisations about the conditions on these ships: the animals suffer on a ‘normal’ trip; a delay only adds to that.
Animals are almost always killed when they arrive; usually, they have to be transported by truck to a slaughterhouse first, adding to their suffering.
Everyone The Animal Reader talked to on this subject agrees on one thing: stop sending live animals, start sending meat.
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