Long-distance transport of livestock causes significant welfare costs including stress, injury, dehydration, and death. Evidence supports reducing transport times as a major welfare improvement.
Livestock transport is a major welfare issue that receives insufficient public attention. While farm conditions have seen significant scrutiny, the transport of animals to slaughter and between production facilities involves hours or days of stress, crowding, feed and water deprivation, and exposure to unfamiliar animals. Long-haul international transport by sea is particularly problematic, with animals spending days or weeks in conditions that cause chronic stress and high mortality rates. The welfare solution — local slaughter with transport of meat rather than live animals — is economically viable in many contexts but requires industry restructuring and sometimes policy support.