Crew and Cattle Stranded Off Turkey

The 52-year-old livestock carrier Spiridon II remains in quarantine off Turkey with around 20 crew and 2,853 cows onboard.

Having departed from Montevideo (Uruguay) bound for Turkey on September 19 with 2,901 heifers, some of which may be pregnant, the Spiridon II is, over 50 days later, still unable to deliver the animals to shore.

Veterinary authorities are refusing to allow them to disembark due to a controversy over ear tags that guarantee, among other things, the exact origin and health monitoring of the animals.

Additional fodder was loaded onto the upper deck of the Spiridon II on November 9, but the vessel was then evacuated from the port. Already, 48 cows are reported to have died.

“At day 56 of their loaded ordeal these gentle animals really need some decency extended to them from the authorities,” says Dr Lynn Simpson, former live export veterinarian.

“Decisions need to be made one way or another to get these animals off the ship- be it alive or euthanised.

“It is not acceptable to deliberately keep these animals in what must by now be atrocious conditions. If the ship was adhering to MARPOL, she would not have washed its decks of sewerage buildup since before passing through the strait of Gibraltar, that is nearly a month ago. These ships are revolting with sewerage buildup after five days, and it’s associated heat, humidity and ammonia gas.”

The crew would be suffering as well as the animals, says Simpson, having to work in these conditions and live with what are presumably many dead, decomposing bodies so close to the bridge and crew accommodation- their only respite is the likely ability to have a shower.

“The crew would be almost as desperate as the cattle to get off the ship at this point. It is gruelling and depressing work tending to exhausted, stressed animals that should never have been onboard a ship in the first place, let alone for close to two months.”

Uruguay is South America’s second largest exporter of livestock after Brazil. In the first eight months of 2025, 265,000 head of cattle were exported, including calves, heifers and cows of the Angus, Hereford and Holstein breeds to Turkey (77%), Israel (12%) and Morocco (11%). Between mid-August and mid-September, 45,000 head of cattle were exported, according to data from the ACG (Asociación de Consignatarios de Ganado, Association of Livestock Consignees).

The Spiridon II is a former Russian general cargo ship converted into a livestock carrier in 2011 and flies the Togo flag. The vessel has been detained nine times since 2009. Since 2019, port inspections have identified 167 deficiencies on board relating to working conditions, pollution prevention, life-saving appliances, fire safety, navigation safety, and structural condition. The most recent inspections were carried out in Piraeus (Greece) on August 23, 2024 (10 deficiencies) and in Beirut (Lebanon) on October 30, 2024 (three deficiencies) and July 26, 2025 (four deficiencies).

The Spiridon II was approved by the European Union’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety and used to transport livestock between European ports and North African and Eastern Mediterranean countries until at least mid-2024.

Talks are reportedly underway to extend the voyage and deliver the animals to Ukraine, reports animal welfare organization Robin des Bois.