Frightened livestock are prodded and yelled at as they are herded up a steep loading ramp into a live export ship.

A ship is a totally unnatural environment for farm animals, but the stress they feel now is just the beginning. The New Zealand Government, which banned the export of live animals for slaughter in 2007, announced on 14 April 2021 that—from 2023—the export of all live animals (including dairy cattle and livestock used for breeding) will end. But for Australian livestock, the suffering continues—and much occurs ‘out of sight’.

If it weren’t for the brave whistle-blowers and animal charities providing images to the media, we would never know what animals really experience between being loaded onto the ship and their final slaughter. Over the years, shocking images circulated around the world have broken our hearts.

The Federal Government promised changes would come into effect by November 2020 to give cattle on ships more space to lie down and easier access to food and water. But even this modest improvement has now been shelved. Buckling under pressure from live export lobbyists, our government has also allowed sheep to travel to the Middle East in June, one of the high heat stress months within the prohibited period of the Northern Hemisphere summer.

The exemption granted in 2020 to live exporter RETWA (a wholly owned subsidiary of repeat offender Kuwait Livestock Transport and Trading) further undermined public confidence in the federal government as the industry’s regulator.

THIS IS INHUMANE AND DISGUSTING!!! PUT A STOP TO LIVE EXPORTS NOW!