Transport injuries cause significant welfare harm across all farm animal species, and evidence-based loading, vehicle design, and journey management standards reduce preventable suffering.
Transport injury welfare is a concentrated welfare problem where multiple stressors compound simultaneously during a brief but intense period. Animals loading and unloading onto vehicles face novel environments, unfamiliar handlers, slippery surfaces, and the flight-response activation that poorly designed handling facilities cause. Injuries from falls, crushing, and fighting during transport represent preventable welfare harm that is quantifiable through dead on arrival and casualty rates - metrics that should be routinely recorded and acted upon. The welfare standard is not simply minimizing obvious injury but reducing the fear and stress that precede injury. Low-stress handling training, appropriate facility design, and compatible animal grouping address these factors more effectively than focusing exclusively on physical injury prevention.