Assessing animal fitness for transport before loading is a critical welfare intervention that prevents suffering of compromised animals who should not be subjected to the stress of journey.
Transport fitness assessment is a foundational welfare intervention that prevents the worst transport welfare outcomes. Animals loaded while ill, injured, or near parturition experience profoundly amplified suffering during the physical and physiological stress of transport. The welfare case is clear and is reflected in law across many jurisdictions — but enforcement gaps mean unfit animals are regularly loaded. Training loaders and producers to assess fitness, combined with clear accountability mechanisms, can prevent significant preventable suffering.