Live animal export by sea involves some of the most severe and poorly monitored welfare conditions in global livestock trade, with high mortality and suffering on long ocean voyages.
Long-haul live animal export by sea represents one of the most extreme welfare situations in global animal agriculture. Animals on ships for weeks in tropical heat experience cumulative welfare deterioration that no regulatory framework has effectively prevented. Heat stress causes deaths by the thousands on problem voyages. Injured animals cannot be effectively treated in ship conditions. Disease spreads rapidly through crowded vessel decks. The fundamental welfare argument against long-haul live export is that the welfare costs of the voyage cannot be adequately mitigated regardless of management quality improvements — they are inherent in the concept of confining thousands of animals for weeks in a ship environment. Transitioning to chilled meat trade eliminates these welfare costs while preserving trade value.