Long-distance live cattle export from Australia, South America and Europe to Middle Eastern markets involves multi-week sea journeys under conditions that cause significant suffering.
Long-distance live cattle export combines multiple welfare harms: confinement in high-density shipboard conditions, exposure to thermal extremes, disruption of social groups, deprivation of appropriate feed and water, and physical exhaustion. Animals that survive the journey face further stress at poorly regulated markets. The RSPCA and other organisations have long argued that chilled and frozen meat trade is functionally equivalent economically but eliminates the welfare costs of live transport entirely.