The driver was fined for violating the permitted transport times and for overloading the truck. According to the Dutch animal protection organisation, Stichting Varkens in Nood, it appeared that there was no water on board for the animals.
The transport originated in the Dutch province of Gelderland and was on way to the Czech Republic.
Refute
The NBHV, Dutch industry association for livestock
trading, refuted claims of the Stichting that the animals' welfare was in
danger. They maintain that although the permitted transport times of 8 hours
without a rest were exceeded by a half hour, the journey to the Czech Republic
takes 10 hours and this is the norm for such transports.
In addition, the NBHV maintains that the load adhered to standard general load regulations and that the driver did demonstrate to the police how the functioning of the water system which did in fact work.
This is the second incident involving pig transports along the German
Autobahn in the last half year - in the summer, another truck was stopped by the
police as other drivers had reported seeing blood spilling from the vehicle.
Related websites:
• NBHV
