Live sheep export ban in Australia: What is live export?
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Did you know Australia exported over 1.37 million animals overseas in 2021 alone? Here’s a quick guide on everything you need to know about live export and the live sheep export ban in Australia.
Image credit: Animals Australia
Australia is one of the world’s leading players in the highly criticised live export trade. The country exports live cattle, sheep, goats, dairy cows, buffalo, and alpacas, with cattle making up 90% of total live exports.
What is live export?
The live export trade is the commercial transport of live animals to foreign countries. This trade relies on sending hundreds of thousands of animals such as sheep and cattle on gruelling voyages for human consumption or breeding.
Animals like sheep who are sent for the purpose of slaughter often have to endure long journeys, some of which last up to three weeks long, only to be roughly handled or killed using methods that are below Australian animal welfare standards on their arrival in destination countries.
Many animals experience severe heat stress, dehydration, and starvation while others die cruel deaths or are killed – sometimes using brutal methods – onboard these cramped ships.
Live sheep export ban in Australia
Hundreds of thousands of Australian sheep are forced to board live export ships each year. These animals may have to endure extreme stress, illness and injury during these long journeys. Many die in transit because of the unbearable and filthy conditions onboard.
The animals who do survive these voyages can be handled roughly at their destination, or even killed while fully conscious.
Animal lovers and animal groups including World Animal Protection worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the immense suffering of millions of sheep and cattle in the live export trade for decades.
Thankfully, the Australian Parliament was finally moved to pass the historic bill to end live sheep exports by sea, which means Australian sheep will no longer suffer in the live export trade from 1st May 2028.
Live export tragedies
There have been many incidents that serve as a strong reminder of why a live export ban is the only way forward. Here are two of the most recent disasters in this trade:
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2024 MV Bahijah
Australia’s MV Bahijah, a live export ship with approximately 15,000 sheep and cattle onboard, set sail on 5th January and was forced to turn back to Western Australia because of security concerns in the Red Sea. This caused the animals to languish inside the vessel for more than two and a half arduous months at sea. The live export ship was eventually offloaded in Freemantle Port, but the animals were quickly re-loaded and re-exported on a longer voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, arriving in Israel early in April.
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2020 MV Gulf Livestock 1
New Zealand’s MV Gulf Livestock 1 live export ship capsized on its way to China killing 41 crew members and 5,867 dairy cows. This tragedy is said to have occurred due to a combination of engine problems and rough sea conditions because of Typhoon Maysak, shining a light on how unsafe such long, gruelling live export voyages can be. Following this incident, the Aotearoa New Zealand Government enacted a world-leading ban on live exports by sea on the 30th of April 2023.
A live export ban is the only way forward
Hundreds of thousands of sheep and cattle suffer unnecessarily during live export because of the filthy and cramped conditions onboard and the cruelly long journeys.
A ban on live exports will help safeguard these animals from these terrifying voyages to destinations where their welfare is often not guaranteed.
Thanks to many years of public opposition and calls for change, Australia will finally move away from live sheep exports by sea from 1st May 2028.
Together, we can end live export cruelty.
Live export
We have worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the immense suffering of millions of sheep and cattle in the live export trade.
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Factory farming traps farmed animals in an endless cycle of abuse and cruelty. This tragedy will only worsen as demand for meat grows globally.