Urge the USDA and Dairy Industry to Adopt Criteria to Ensure Vulnerable Animals Are Fit to Travel Prior to Transport
Dear John,
Each year, millions of farmed animals are subjected to long, grueling journeys across the United States for various purposes, including for breeding, feeding, and slaughter. Transport is extremely stressful for these animals; in addition to the increased handling and startling environs of noisy, vibrating transport trailers, they often endure temperature extremes, overcrowding, and prolonged food and water deprivation.
The journey is even more torturous for high-risk groups, including the very young and the infirm. Many of these animals are unfit to travel--they cannot be transported without experiencing significant suffering or death. AWI research reveals, however, that hundreds of thousands of dairy calves under a month old (many only a few days old) are subjected to lengthy cross-country transport. "Cull" animals (those removed from a producing herd due to age, illness, or other infirmity) are also regularly shipped long distances to slaughterhouses, with some already dead or immobile upon arrival. Such practices go against transport guidelines established by the leading international authority on the health and welfare of animals, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
The National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program audits and certifies dairy producers and processors based on standards in five categories, including animal welfare. During the standards review process in 2022, AWI encouraged FARM to adopt the WOAH fitness-for-travel guidelines, but the request was ignored. Now, AWI has submitted a rulemaking petition to the USDA, urging it to establish several fitness-to-travel criteria consistent with these international standards to protect these vulnerable animals during transport.