Sir, I do appreciate the bigger picture, J Burgess Worcester news 7th Oct,
I belong to KAALE www.kaale.org.uk, your readers can see many photos taken by us at
Ramsgate of live sheep going to mainly religious slaughter on the continent and beyond,
we have logs showing journeys of 54 hours and more.
I ask him when HE last saw a transporter, heading for the exporters own ship, a flat
bottom ex Russian river barge which offers no shelter to the variants of channel weather.
Protesters, I have attended every shipment for the last 3 years as a monitor, shout at the
drivers in disgust, bang the cabs but never bang the trailers mindful of the sheep they
contain.
The Lorries have water systems same as for rabbits but animals in the centre of the
trailers cannot reach the teats. Cooling systems are fans, often switched off.
Food is straw bedding, soaked in urine causing unbelievable smells.
Ramsgate port is accessed by a roundabout at speed causing animals to be thrown from
side to side. People sit in the road to try to slow them down.
I have never seen anyone try to pull a driver from the cab but I have seen a driver kick a
protester in the face.
Overcrowding, injuries and legs stuck through slats is commonplace.
The RSPCA is totally against the trade, is present at the port but not allowed, by the
drivers, to look at the animals. Animal Health, the government body, does cursory 30%
checks for problems and miss most things.
British jobs are lost in the slaughter, finishing and butchering industry as the exporters
are mainly Dutch and the Lorries are also Dutch with Dutch drivers.
We ask, ‘is Mr Burgess involved in the trade’? If so he should hang his head in shame.
Yvonne Birchall
Kent Action Against Live Exports
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