Sorry, this video asset has been removed.

RSPCA start inspecting
live exports at Ramsgate

Warning notices have been issued after
lorries carrying live animal exports through a Kent port were
inspected by the RSPCA for the first time today.

The controversial trade resumed at the
Port of Ramsgate last year and thousands of calves and sheep have
already been transported to the continent for slaughter.

By law, some of them can spend 24
hours on board lorries without a break.

Temperatures inside the trucks reach
35 Celsius and conditions are so cramped the animals cannot lie
down or reach food and water, according to the RSPCA.

Inspectors and a vet from the charity
were in Ramsgate this morning to carry out welfare checks on the
animals as they were loaded onto a cross-Channel ferry.

Protests against live
exports at Ramsgate port

Both they and Defra issued warning
notices for poor ventilation and for mixing horned and non-horned
animals.

Today's inspection comes a week after
Gavin Grant, chief executive of the RSPCA, met with Thanet council,
which owns the port, and Compassion in World Farming to discuss how
to end the trade.

He called for "zero tolerance of
animal abuse" and said hauliers and shipping companies would be
prosecuted if they fail to provide adequate conditions.

Mr Grant said: "The reality is that
animals, sometimes just weeks old, are being shipped out of
Ramsgate to face long journeys across Europe, only to be
slaughtered or reared in conditions which could be illegal
here.

"Ramsgate is such a beautiful place
but it has this ugly stain upon it. We'd like to see an end to this
trade and tomorrow wouldn't be too soon."