International live animal transport — by sea and air — involves journeys of days to weeks with significant cumulative welfare costs from crowding, temperature extremes, feed and water deprivation, and disease stress.
Live animal transport involves extended periods of conditions that differ dramatically from normal housing: unfamiliar environments, unstable footing on vessels, crowding with unfamiliar animals, temperature extremes, and disrupted feeding and watering schedules. Heat stress events on livestock vessels when ambient temperatures exceed vessel cooling capacity have caused mass mortality events — thousands of animals dying from heat stroke over days. The welfare cost accumulates over the transport duration: what starts as acute stress becomes chronic welfare burden over multi-week sea voyages. The alternative of exporting carcasses or meat rather than live animals eliminates this welfare burden while delivering equivalent economic value. Regulatory momentum toward meat rather than live export reflects both welfare evidence and consumer preference.