Live animal transport — particularly long-distance international trade — causes significant welfare harm that evidence-based regulations are only beginning to address.
Long-distance live animal transport causes welfare harm that accumulates with journey duration. Dehydration in confined, moving vehicles is the most acutely dangerous — animals that cannot drink for many hours in warm conditions develop life-threatening dehydration. Heat stress during summer transport causes mortality in severe cases. Crowding prevents normal posture maintenance and increases injury risk from other animals. The most egregious welfare harms occur in international trade where animals cross multiple jurisdictions with decreasing welfare standards. Sheep transported from Australia to the Persian Gulf may spend weeks at sea in conditions exceeding fatal temperature thresholds. Replacing this trade with chilled carcass meat would provide equivalent economic value with greatly reduced welfare cost. EU campaigns to end live export have achieved growing political support, and the welfare case for replacement with chilled trade is compelling.