WAN was sent shocking and heartbreaking images of 14,600 sheep that were trapped aboard a sinking ship headed from Romania to Saudi Arabia for slaughter.
In a horrific turn of events, The Queen Hind cargo vessel carrying the 14,600 sheep capsized in the Black Sea on Sunday. The EU’s third-largest sheep breeder transports much of its livestock to countries in the Middle East.
According to numerous reports, only 33 of the animals that were being transported to Saudi Arabia have been rescued, but search and rescue efforts resumed today.
Photo from: ISU Constanta
While Euronews reported that Romania’s emergency service ISU Constanta also saved the crew which consisted of 20 Syrians and one Lebanese national, it is devastating to imagine what these poor innocent animals experienced while trapped on the sinking ship, struggling to survive, and then drowning in the treacherous sea.
A heartbreaking post on the Facebook page of Animals International noted that “animals are screaming inside the vessel.”
What is equally unconscionable is that the rescued sheep will reportedly be boarded onto one of three other ships to continue to the next horror that awaits them once they arrive at the slaughterhouse in Saudi Arabia.
As per an update by Maritime Bulletin, it has been said that “the ship was overloaded, and that overload was most likely the cause of the disaster, but far more likely, faulty ballasting caused capsizing, or more broadly, low-quality crew actions or inactions.”
There is No Excuse for this tremendous and senseless loss of life to occur.
Romania’s main livestock breeder and exporter association, Acebop, has reporterdly called for an urgent investigation.
TAKE ACTION NOW! Send a message to Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban at: [email protected] urging him to END LIVE EXPORT and spare animals from this needless horror and cruelty.