Gorizia, the Italian gastronomic tradition includes, during the Easter holidays, a large consumption of sheep meat. The Friuli Venezia Giulia Traffic Police knows this very well and, precisely in this period, has focused its attention on the international transport of live animals on the route from Eastern Europe to the whole of Italy.
The services were inspired by respect for the legality of the transport of animals which must not be made to suffer unnecessary suffering. Animals, by now consolidated, are considered by European standards to be sensitive beings and, precisely because of this ethological condition, capable of sensing feelings such as stress, fear, discomfort, conditions incompatible with transport practices.
The Traffic Police deployed 41 patrols, which checked a total of 22 vehicles used for the transport of animals, most of them community vehicles. There were 40 high fines, of which 24 were ascertained according to specific legislation for a total amount of €35.025,75.
A particular focus was carried out on 29 and 30 March where, alongside the State Police, qualified personnel from the Veterinary Office for Community Investigations of Udine and veterinary personnel from the ASUGI of Gorizia worked.
Near the Villesse motorway toll booth a vehicle transporting 780 sheep, specifically lambs from Romania, was inspected with an inefficient watering and ventilation system. Furthermore, a very serious condition, the insufficiency of the vital space between one loading surface and another was ascertained, which forced the poor animals into an unnatural, almost prone posture.. During the check, given the unusually high external temperature, in order to safeguard the well-being of the animals, the policemen and veterinarians, with great sensitivity, had the vehicle parked under one of the entrance doors of the motorway barrier, thus making the wait more comfortable. .
A similar situation occurred at the Gonars Nord motorway service area where, in the absence of shaded spaces, the road operators and the good heart of some truck drivers arranged the parked articulated cars in such a way as to provide a minimum of shelter from the Sun.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright La Milano
