Live export of sheep — particularly long-distance sea shipments from Australia — causes severe welfare harm from heat stress, disease, injury, and prolonged confinement.
Live export welfare harms accumulate across the entire journey. Loading causes acute stress; the transition from paddock to ship is disorienting and frightening. Voyage conditions — crowded decks, exposure to heat and cold, respiratory disease from ammonia and crowding — cause chronic suffering. Heat stress on summer voyages kills sheep through hyperthermia: body temperature rises beyond the point of recovery, causing organ failure and death. Surviving animals arrive at destination ports physiologically compromised, often injured from falls on moving ships. Slaughter conditions at destination — often without stunning — add a final welfare harm to an already suffering population. The economic arguments for live export are contested; the welfare arguments against it are unambiguous.