Transporting livestock over long distances is one of the most significant sources of suffering in animal agriculture. Reform efforts focus on journey time limits, rest stops, water access, and slaughter-at-origin alternatives.
Long-distance livestock transport exposes animals to a cascade of welfare insults: loading stress, vehicle motion, novel environments, social disruption, temperature extremes, and dehydration. Even well-managed journeys involve genuine suffering, and poorly managed ones involve severe distress and preventable deaths. The case for replacing live export with chilled meat trade is both welfare and economic. While structural change requires political will, meaningful improvements in journey time limits, welfare monitoring, and enforcement can reduce suffering substantially in the interim.