Live export
Live animal export - stress and death at sea
The statistics on these live export pages are a few years out of date. Latest statistics are available at the Animals Australia website.
Around
5 million sheep a year are being exported from Australia for
slaughter overseas, mostly to the Middle East. They travel on crowded
ships for up to 3 weeks, more if there are problems.
Around 2% of sheep die during the voyage, even though they are young, healthy animals. Big ships carry 100,000 sheep, so this means 2000 dead sheep every 3 weeks. Since 1981, over 2 million sheep have perished during export. The main causes of death are refusal to eat, Salmonella infection, and injuries due to slipping on the floor.
In spite of the large number of animals on a ship, and the health problems of these animals, Australian ships don't carry a vet. Sick and injured animals can't get professional attention. New Zealand ships are required to carry a vet.
Sheep are crowded 3 per square metre on the ships. It gets very hot and humid in the pens. Ammonia in the air increases as manure builds up over the 3 week voyage. Pens are not washed out until after the sheep are unloaded.
More sheep die during and after unloading in the Middle East. The survivors are killed according to the halal method, which means that the throat of fully conscious sheep is cut and they bleed to death. The sheep feel pain and fear before they die. In Australia animals are stunned and made unconscious before their throat is cut.
Apart
from "normal" deaths, there have also been disastrous
accidents in the trade.
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In September 1996, the Uniceb caught fire and 67,488 sheep burned or drowned.
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In November 1996, 1592 cattle drowned when the Guernsey Express sank during bad weather.
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In January 1998, 154 cattle and 283 goats died on the Anomis when a financial dispute delayed unloading in Malaysia.
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In July 1998, 346 cattle died en route to Jordan, a further 50 died while the vessel was in port, and 174 were later slaughtered at sea after being rejected by buyers due to ill-health, making a total mortality rate of 45.5%.
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In January 1999, up to 800 cattle died of suffocation on the Temburong en route to Indonesia when the power failed and there was no ventilation in the totally enclosed hold.
Although sheep are the main animals exported live, there are smaller numbers of cattle and goats. This long distance transport is stressful for all animals, but goats are even more likely to die than sheep.
The Federal government must make a much greater effort to export carcases rather than live animals. For a letter you can write to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, go to Letters to write .
For more details, including references, go to Live animal export.