Long-distance livestock transport causes significant suffering and mortality, making transport reform a high-impact animal welfare priority.
Transport represents a concentrated period of multiple simultaneous stressors: loading stress, novel environment, crowding, vibration, temperature extremes, social disruption, and feed and water deprivation. The cumulative welfare impact is substantial even for relatively short journeys, and magnifies significantly over long-distance and international transport routes. The welfare evidence strongly supports a shift toward slaughtering animals close to their production location, with only meat transported across long distances. This model exists and functions in many countries, demonstrating that the economic case for live animal transport is not as compelling as industry often claims.