The Sarah M was scheduled to dock at Greenore on Ireland’s northeast coast on April 30, to collect 2000 young bulls for export. 

The ship had recently been classed with the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, and was therefore subject to European Union sanctions which include denial of access to EU ports. 

Ethical Farming Ireland alerted the Department of Transport of this breach, which resulted in the vessel being denied entry. 

The organisation has long campaigned against live export from Ireland to mainland Europe and beyond, as thousands of animals are exported to countries as far afield as Libya, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt and Turkey each year. 

The organisation has expressed disappointment that their intervention was necessary in order to ensure proper regulation of the vessel.

Such incidents are not uncommon amongst live transport vessels, as revealed in new research by Animal Welfare Foundation. Nearly half of the animal transport vessels approved in the EU are flying the flag of a country marked by the Paris Memorandum of Understanding as a black flag (for example Togo, Sierra Leone or Tanzania). 

This flag indicates these vessels pose a high risk to maritime traffic, as well as to the animals, crew and environment.

Eurogroup for Animals and its members are working towards a complete ban on live exports throughout the EU.