DAYTIME temperatures across Europe are expected to be in excess of 30°C in areas of South-Eastern France, Northern Italy and Eastern and Southern Spain over the coming week. Night-time temperatures will also be consistently high in some of these areas.

Horse Sport Ireland have warned that areas such as the Central Plateau and Rhone valley, are unlikely to be compatible with transport of animals in compliance with Regulation 1/2005 for part of the coming week. Article 3 of regulation 1/2005 ‘No person shall transport animals or cause animals to be transported in a way likely to cause injury or undue suffering to them.’

Regulation 01/2005 states:

Ventilation systems on means of transport by road shall be designed, constructed and maintained in such way that, at any time during the journey, whether the means of transport is stationary or moving, they are capable of maintaining a range of temperatures from 5°C to 30°C within the means of transport, for all animals, with a +/- 5°C tolerance, depending on the outside temperature.

Caution is advised when assessing proposed journey logs to Europe at present until temperatures cool in the back end of the year. The European Commission advises Member States, with reference to the Regulation ‘that no long distance transports should take place if temperatures are forecast to exceed 30°C.’

The Department considers that the default temperature intended by Regulation 1/2005, for inside a vehicle transport by land over a long journey, should be no greater than 30°C. The maximum permissible temperature within the vehicle is 35°C. Transport analyses from a sample of returned journey logs comparing temperatures within vehicles with outside conditions showed that in warm conditions, the interior is usually significantly warmer than the outside temperature. A Swedish study of air temperatures within cattle trucks indicated that the mean temperatures were 3-6°C higher within the truck than outside it.