15/07/2020

Criminal neglect. What the law says

Four horses were found dead inside a horsebox last Monday, immediately after the vehicle disembarked from the Moby ferry from Civitavecchia to Olbia.
There were 9 horses in the horsebox destined to race at Chilivani racecourse.
To date, the details of the tragedy are not clear: the owner of the horses accuses the ferry company, claiming the heat in the hold was excessive, while Moby maintain that the horses were all alive upon disembarking and that they died subsequent to that. This is for the appropriate authorities to ascertain, given that apparently the owner lodged a complaint. It also has to be ascertained whether the horses suffocated, or died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

We have tried to answer the main and obvious question: how can it possibly be permitted for a lorry containing live animals to travel in the sealed hold of a ferry, with no checks on their state of wellbeing, for the entire duration of the journey? Surely it should be obligatory for such live animal transporters to be on the open decks?

The applicable regulation is the European Union Regulation 1/2005 concerning the protection of animals during transport, which in Italy translated into the Legislative Decree of 25/07/2007 No 151.
In this case we have transport of equids including third parties* which lasted longer than 8 hours: while the actual crossing took 7 hours, we add the time taken for boarding and disembarcation, and the road journey to the port of embarcation.
Now, for this type of transport the vehicle must be designed to limit the range of inside temperature to between 5°C and 30°C (with a margin of +/- 5°C) at any point in time and under any conditions. Furthermore, there has to be a system of control of, and of recording, the temperature with sensors capable of recording the relevant data, and also an alarm system to alert the driver whenever the temperatures reach the permitted maximum or minimum (Appendix I Reg 1/2005).
In addition to the above regulations, it is obligatory to complete a temperature registration form giving the temperature data (Appendix I, VI, 3.3 Reg 1/2005).
Penalties for ignoring these obligations (D. Lgs. 25 July 2007 n.151), for which the transporter is liable, range from €2.000 to €6.000 (Art.7 comma 4; Appendix.4 point 3).

Regulation 1/2005 also provides for special conditions for transport by ferries (Appendix. I, II, point 39): in particular it obliges the captain of the ship to “verify that the system of forced ventilation on internal decks is appropriate and has alarm systems and backup power systems in case of power failures”. The law also adds that “the captain/the ferry company is understood to be the transporter and is therefore obliged to ensure that only suitably equipped vehicles are permitted to board the ferry”.

In light of the above, IHP has lodged a report with the appropriate Authorities, asking that they identify those directly responsible for the death of the four horses, and that they investigate also potential charges of cruelty and of causing the death of animals, on the basis of Law 189/2004.

“We see this as a collateral consequence of the exploitation of horses”, declared Sonny Richichi, President of IHP. “We do not find it acceptable that horses, who wish only to live a natural life grazing the hills, should be forced to endure long and exhausting journeys in order to take part in competitions: they are the passive protagonists in games for some people or, as in this case, for business. (N.B. the races they were en route to participate in carried a total prize pot of more than €50,000.00).


*according to EU Regulation 1/2005 and the Italian Stato-Regioni,20/03/2008, by ‘owner transporting their own horses’ is meant: transportation by the owner (i.e. a physical person or close family member) who is the owner of the horse(s) in a vehicle of his or her own property, for non-commercial use (for example transfer of the animals between yards, or attending cultural or sporting events).



The ferry on which the horses traveled: the only possibility of loading is in the hold of the ship