Last Monday, February 22, the ship
Karim Allah
, loaded with 880 head of Spanish cattle, returned to Cartagena (Murcia), from where it had left on December 18.
He was returning to the place of departure after spending more than two months roaming the Mediterranean after Turkey, the country to which the merchandise was destined, refused to accept it, considering insufficient documentation that proved that the cattle were free from the disease of the
blue tongue
.
The return to Spain seemed the definitive solution to a surrealist commercial conflict that, however, has not yet closed.
Since Monday, the ship has been anchored in the vicinity of the port of Cartagena, but does not ask for permission to enter before the warning of the Ministry of Agriculture.
"The Spanish health authority communicated to us on Monday the resolution in which it told us that if the ship touched port, the animals would be immediately slaughtered," explains
Miquel Masramónn
, a lawyer who, together with
Jaime Rodrigo,
represents
Talia Shipping Line
, the Karim's shipowning company Allah.
The resolution in question says if the animals enter Spain "the importing company must isolate and slaughter them within the port area as soon as possible", that the meat may not be used for "human consumption" and that it must "destroy the corpses in a plant treatment ".
Among the reasons for resisting the landing is that the shipowner, although it has only acted as a carrier, could be considered to be a subsidiary responsible for the cost of this entire process of eliminating the animals, which, Masramón explains, could amount to "one million euros."
1,776 animals near Cyprus
In a situation similar to that of Karim Allah is the
Eldeik
ship
, which left Tarragona a day earlier, on December 17, with
1,776 head
of cattle.
He was also rejected by Turkey, but, unlike Karim Allah, he still continues to stumble across the Mediterranean, in his case in the vicinity of the Cypriot coast.
Between the two there are about 2,700 cattle, including calves, cows and bulls.
The conflict, explains Masramón, originated when the Turkish health authorities when arriving at the port of Innsbruk considered that it was not sufficiently proven that the cattle were free of
bluetongue
.
The Karim Allah ship, in August 2020 in Tarragona ANIMAL WELFARE FOUNDATION
"The certificate says that some of the calves originate from Aragon and reject the animals for not complying with the
bluetongue
protocol
. It turns out that a
bluetongue
outbreak had been detected shortly before
in Huesca and Huesca is in Aragon. In these cases, they explained, it must be proven that the cattle come from a place more than 150 kilometers away from the source of the infection. And as this is not guaranteed, they reject the discharge ", the lawyer details the details of why the Turkish refusal.
However, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food assures that the ship "sailed from Spain with animals provided with the corresponding health certificates and from areas free of
bluetongue
."
Suspicion of the 'blue tongue'
And in the same sense they pronounce from Asoprovac, the Spanish Association of Beef Cattle Producers.
"The animals left Spain correctly certified and with the approval of the Turks. The surprise of the exporters was that when they got there the health authorities reject the animals because they consider that they could be infected", says
Matilde Moro
, manager of Asoprovac.
After the rejection of the Turks, Miquel Masramón continues the story of the "via crusis" lived by Karim Allah, the cattle exporting company,
World Trade
, instructs the ship to move to Tripoli.
"Those from World Trade see the possibility of selling them in Libya, where the
blue tongue
protocols
are different, and the Spanish health authority issues new certificates so that the cattle can be led to Libya. But the Libyan authority rejects it for the Same reason, because they say he is suspected of
blue tongue
. "
It is then, in mid-January, when, according to the version of Karim Allah's lawyer, the exporting company disappears from the map and leaves them to their fate.
Qualify the lived situation as "anguish."
Spain demands sacrifice
"With water there is no problem because there is a system to produce it on the ship, but we had no fodder or straw. After we left Libya, which they kicked us out, we tried to load fodder in Tunisia. The ship was featured in the media. Like a plagued ship, saying it was carrying infected cattle. Finally, fodder was able to be loaded in Sicily. And then we tried to find another port, anywhere. As there were suspicions for sanitary reasons, we tried to look for a few homes called quarantine warehouses. of procedures, but the download was not accepted anywhere ", relates Masramón la odisea.
Image of Karim Allah in a cattle transport in 2016.ANIMAL WELFARE FOUNDATION
They decided then to return to Spain, where they have found that the General Directorate of Health of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food demands the sacrifice.
"Community legislation obliges this", explains Matile Moro, from Asoprovac.
"Any return and return to the port of origin, even if they are not live animals ... If Spain or any European country export a product container to a third party for example and it is rejected, what the legislation allows is that it be sent to another destination or that is destroyed there or in the place of origin, "he adds.
The assembly company, however, resists sacrifice.
"We want to protect the merchandise and not only for the love of the animals but because the carrier has not charged and has the right to compensation for the merchandise. Whoever has been taking care of these animals has been the carrier", explains Miquel Masramón.
Cattle blood tests
Jaime Rodrigo, who also defends the interests of Karim Allah, explained to EL MUNDO this Wednesday afternoon that they had hired the services of the Oss company, emergency specialists, and that a veterinary team was heading to the ship to take blood samples from the cattle.
These will be analyzed in an official laboratory.
"There are two dilemmas here: if the certificates are good or bad - I don't agree with the Turkish authorities, I don't know - and if the animals are good or bad," Rodrigo said.
"If the veterinarians tell us that the animals are in good condition and we obtain the certificates from the Spanish administration, we will sell them tomorrow," he adds.
The circumstance occurs that the sale could not be in Spain, due to the aforementioned resolution in which the entry into the country of the animals is prohibited if it is not for their slaughter and destruction, so if they pass the analysis the cattle must undertake crossing again.
In the two months since they left Cartagena, 15 of the 895 animals that left have died, a figure that the assembly company considers "a success" under the circumstances.
The complaint
The situation of Karim Allah and Eledeik was denounced a month ago by the German NGO
Animal Welfare Foundation
.
"We received an anonymous call from one of the boats in which they told us that they were having problems unloading the animals," explains
María Boada
, a veterinarian for the NGO, who has been following the 80 boats that have certified to load animals since 2014 in Europe.
Boada points to the Spanish Government as the maximum responsible for the situation of livestock.
"They are trying to remove guilt by saying that the animals did not come out sick, but at the legal level they are responsible for their welfare until they arrive at their destination," he says.
And she is in favor of their being slaughtered.
"We directly ask for euthanasia. They have been adrift for two months. If the transport normally lasts a week and they already arrive in poor condition, imagine two months."
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