Over 100 animal
welfare campaigners gathered at the Nethercourt roundabout last night to
protest against the export of sheep from
the Port of Ramsgate for ritual
slaughter in Europe. At about 11.30pm 7 lorries carrying approximately 2,500 sheep tried to
drive towards the port approach road, but were blocked for a short while by
campaigners sitting in the road and standing in front of the lorries . About 40 police officers were able
to clear the way for the lorries which continued their journey to the port
where they were loaded onto the waiting
animal ferry Joline for a 4 hour voyage to Calais . It is understood that 3
people were arrested. Ian Driver, one of
the founders of the campaign against live animal exports from Ramsgate filmed
the arrival of the lorries. He said “this cruel and barbaric trade has been taking place from Ramsgate Port for more than 5 years. It is evil. It cannot be justified. It should be banned. I will continue to protest and take direct action
against the perpetrators of live exports until it is stopped. I would encourage anyone
who cares about the welfare of animals to join our protests and stand up and be
counted. Driver publishes details of forthcoming shipments on his blogsite Ian
Driver’s Thanet and on his Facebook page. The next shipment is expected in 2 weeks time. It is thought that 2 shipments per week are likely to be leaving Ramsgate from
late August till mid September.
Well done Ian - the roads and port gates should be blocked to stop this awful trade. Where were the RSPCA inspections?
ReplyDeleteFantastic turnout. It has to stop and Animal Health condoning that the fans not working on truck no 7 ('It's fine') have, again, shown that they're supporting #AnimalCruelty.
ReplyDeleteI am still asking the questions as to HOW LEGALLY one transporter can in the course of 24 hours , load sheep in the UK, drive to Ramsgate Port, spend some one and a half hours waiting on a late transporter to arrive, then decide the Joline Barge is full and detach his tractor unit, drive to Dover load onto a Cross channel ferry and pick up his trailer load of sheep left on the Joline barge at Calais and drive to destination .HOW Many driving hours and work hours is that DVSA ? even if they had two drivers on board. And that has not yet been confirmed . DVSA read this and tell us how many hours that vehicle and its Driver(s) logged in 24 hours ? DVSA amongst other offices is based at Gillingham . they are aware of concerns regarding the safety implications of any alleged excess HGV hours carried out on these Livestock Transporters. Or is there one rule for Protestors and another for excess HGV driving hours by Livestock Transporters. 40 plus Police officers at Ramsgate Port should certainly be making enquiries
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