The vessel Spiridon II with almost 3 thousand cows on board docked in Libya and hopes to be able to unload the animals in Lebanon, where they will finally be slaughtered. The ship set sail from Uruguay on the past 19th of September with the cargo destined for Turkey, however, the lack of health and commercial certificates made the disembarkation of the livestock impossible, remaining for several weeks inside the ship.
The ship remained at anchor off the Turkish coast since the 22nd of October and, according to estimates, during the wait 58 bovines died, while the pregnant heifers gave birth to 140 calves, reported the media outlet Perfil.
Despite having more clarity about the future of the cows, animal protection organizations believe the chances of the cattle surviving another voyage across the Atlantic are low, enough to consider the return to the Port of Montevideo.
“They informed us that they were seeing if they could unload at some other port, because the chances of arriving alive in Montevideo were minimal. This ship returns without a veterinarian on board, something that is absolutely essential on this kind of journey,” stated the Uruguayan activist, Rita Rodriguez González.
Rodriguez denounced that “no one is taking responsibility” for the situation of the exported live cows stranded in Turkey. “The Uruguayan state is totally absent, it washes its hands saying it is a problem between private parties,” she stated.
In the same way, the protectionist foundation Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), which has been following the steps of the Spiridon II since it departed two months ago, estimated that the ship would only arrive in Uruguay by mid-December, meaning the livestock would die if not unloaded before then.
“The majority, if not all, will not survive this horrible journey,” stated the AWF project director and veterinarian, Maria Boada Saña, due to the lack of food and water for the animals.
“In such crowded and unsanitary conditions, miscarriages are almost inevitable. And even if a calf is born alive, it has little chance of surviving,” explained the foundation.
“The people on board are neither trained nor equipped to care for seriously ill or dying animals. They face a task that no one can fulfill. They must also be freed from this situation, because they are not responsible for this unspeakable tragedy,” they stated at AWF.
