Live cattle transported by sea for weeks face extreme welfare challenges including heat stress, injury, and disease in overcrowded ships.
Cattle in live export vessels experience profound suffering. Overcrowded pens prevent natural movement. Heat stress during tropical routing causes deaths by hyperthermia. Animals fall and cannot rise due to exhaustion, disease, and slippery surfaces. The stress of confinement, unfamiliar smells, motion sickness, and social disruption is continuous for weeks. Disease outbreaks in the closed environment kill entire consignments. This is recognized as one of the most severe welfare problems in the global livestock trade.