Long-distance live animal transport causes significant welfare harms through exhaustion, dehydration, temperature stress, and injury during journeys that can last days.
Long-distance live animal transport represents one of the most severe and widespread sources of farm animal suffering. Journey durations that exceed animal endurance, combined with unfamiliar environments, crowding, and temperature extremes, create sustained suffering for millions of animals annually. Trading chilled or frozen meat rather than live animals would eliminate these welfare harms.