ARCHIVED - Cartagena port re-opens for livestock exports as 864 cattle are slaughtered from Karim Allah

The Murcian regional government and Cartagena council complained about the “injustice, discrimination and bad treatment” being meted out to Cartagena because the port was forced to stop exporting livestock while the cattle were aboard the boat awaiting slaughter

The sad case of the Karim Allah is finally coming to an end this weekend as the 864 cattle on board the animal transporter vessel are methodically slaughtered after the appeals court ruled that the order made by the Ministry of Agriculture must be carried out.

When officials from the Ministry of Agriculture boarded and inspected the livestock aboard the Karim Allah, which had been at sea for two months, the animals were found to be in no fit condition to undertake a journey to another port, and in spite of none of them testing positive for Bluetongue, they all bore signs of having been in cramped conditions on the vessel, with lesions, skin conditions and clear evidence of having been at sea for this period.

Comienza el desembarco de los terneros para ser sacrificados en Cartagena.

Por favor, firma nuestra petición para que tragedias como esta no se vuelvan a repetir https://t.co/iAjQWyku8I#StopExportaciónAnimalesVivos pic.twitter.com/EWcLn4g5NJ

— Igualdad Animal (@IgualdadAnimal) March 6, 2021

Video: the cattle disembarking for slaughter in Cartagena.

Originally exported from Cartagena port, bound for Turkey, the captain was denied permission to unload the animals in their destination port. Originally it was reported that there had been an outbreak of Bluetongue at sea amongst the cattle; later the reason for the refusal of Turkey to permit the cattle to land was given as an adminstrative error relating to an outbreak of Bluetongue at the farm in Aragón from where they had originally been reared; some of the animals died at sea, but none of the cattle which returned to Cartagena tested positive.

🔺 El buque Elbeik, que lleva más de 2 meses a la deriva, se encuentra fondeado en Creta para cargar comida y paja.

Debido a las malas condiciones y al largo viaje, ya han muerto más de 50 animales a bordo.

Firma: https://t.co/iAjQWyku8I#StopExportaciónAnimalesVivos pic.twitter.com/fYS63Q7SJx

— Igualdad Animal (@IgualdadAnimal) March 4, 2021

The livestock cannot be "re-imported" back into Spain and sent to livestock farms here for rehabilitation as technically they have already been exported to countries which do not have exportation agreements with Spain, although at no point have they left the vessel.

The regional government and local council of Cartagena were highly vocal last week in their opposition to the Elbeik, another vessel moored off the Cyprus coast at the moment with a further 1800 animals on board and currently in the same position, to be admitted to Cartagena and are insisting it returns to Tarragona, from where it originally departed.

During the period in which the owner of the vessel, who will face losses of around one million euros for this trip, losing all of the stock, as well as having had to pay crew, fuel and food for the last two months, attempted to secure a certificate of re-exportation and prevent the stock being slaughtered, the port was prevented from shipping any further live animals from Cartagena, a situation which seemed to be of greater concern to the local council and regional government than any other moral issues.

Both Cartagena local council and the Murcian regional government made impassioned statements supporting the livestock sector and Port Authority, quoting the additional costs for farmers to ship their livestock from other ports this week and the loss of revenue for the Cartagena Port Authority which was unable to carry out 9 shipments, as being 3 million euros. Between them they brought considerable pressure to bear on the Ministry to re-open the port for livestock exportation.

Regional premier Fernando López Miras said, “Look at the injustice, discrimination and mistreatment that Cartagena and the rest of the Region are receiving: while we have to maintain our livestock export operations closed because the central Government wants to force that ship from Tarragona to return to Cartagena , the Port of Tarragona is still active, open and exporting live animals, "he said.

Finally on Friday, once the courts had rejected the appeal of the boat owner who was trying to prevent the slaughter of the stock, permission was given for the port to resume livestock exportations and for the cattle to be slaughtered, a process which has been taking place steadily all weekend.

Over 3 million head of livestock will be exported live from Spain this year and although their final destination is always going to be a slaughterhouse, the tragedy of this situation is that these cattle will be disposed of as being unfit for human consumption, so their short lives and the miserable conditions suffered during the last two months will have been completely pointless.

If you would like to sign a petition calling for a halt to live animal exports organised by Igualdad Animal, click here.

Images: Fundación Igualdad Animal