On March 23, 2021, the cargo ship Ever Given ran aground when it was caught in a sandstorm while transiting through the Suez Canal. The ensuing days of halted traffic created a pileup of ships waiting to pass through the canal. At least 20 of the vessels stopped at the canal were live export ships carrying hundreds of thousands of living animals. Sheep, cows, and other animals were stuck in overcrowded vessels under the hot Mediterranean sun for days without proper medical attention or additional food. Thousands of animals died.
Unfortunately, the crisis in the Suez Canal was not an isolated incident in the live export industry. As the international live export trade has grown, so too has the number of catastrophic events leading to the deaths of thousands of animals. In addition to the untold toll the trade takes on animals, it also causes environmental harms—including amplified climate impacts—and is linked to the spread of global disease, illegal deforestation, and human slavery. Following bold investigative work by animal protection organizations and journalists, some countries have started prohibiting or placing seasonal restrictions on live exports by sea. While a hopeful sign of things to come, more change is needed to curb the worst aspects of the trade.
Rapid Growth of the Live Export Trade
Between 2007 and 2017, the number of live pigs, chickens, cows, goats, and sheep transported around the world doubled from around 1 billion to close to 2 billion, and the industry is still growing. An investigation by The Guardian determined that the industry has quadrupled in the past twenty-five years to an annual value of over $20 billion. On any given day, some five million live animals are aboard ships and trucks in international transit. Consolidation in the animal agriculture sector has only increased travel times and the distances over which animals travel.
Living animals are exported for several reasons. Production costs are often cheaper in other countries, and consumer demand for “fresh” or “locally killed” meat can mean higher profits. Animals slaughtered nearer to where they will be consumed are sometimes assumed to better conform to local ritual slaughter practices. Transported animals can also be misleadingly labeled, as in the case of “Island-Produced Hawaiian Pork” (raised in Canada) or “Italian” horse meat (raised in Spain).
The majority of live animals who are exported come from Europe. Other notable major live exporters include Australia and Brazil—the largest exporters of bovines in the world—as well as Canada, Mexico, and Sudan. The United States, despite being a smaller player in the overall global live export trade relative to its size, is one of the largest exporters of live poultry and horses. In 2020, for the first time in nearly a decade, the Port of Galveston, Texas, received USDA approval to export cattle, including heifers and dairy cows. Domestically, the U.S. also ships thousands of calves from Hawaii to California; a grueling 18-hour journey in containers rarely equipped with food and water facilities.
Animal Welfare, Environmental, and Global Health Concerns
The international nature of this trade means that many animals shipped around the world endure long, traumatic journeys by sea. Standard industry practice often involves overcrowding animals onto ships with limited access to food or medical care, with animals living in their waste for days or weeks. The waste creates noxious gases like ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Intense sun on the ocean, combined with poor ventilation, means that animals routinely suffer from and die of heat stress. Investigators have repeatedly captured footage of cruelty, including sheep being thrown overboard into the freezing ocean while they are still alive, and sick and injured cows being lifted off ships by their legs using cranes.
While the standard practices are horrible enough, as in the Suez Canal example, the last few years have seen tragedies at sea that have led to the deaths of thousands of animals. In 2019, a ship capsized off the coast of Romania, killing more than 14,000 sheep. In 2020, a ship from New Zealand carrying 6,000 cows capsized in a storm off the coast of Japan. All animals aboard and at least 42 crew members are presumed to have drowned. Later that year, a ship carrying 1,800 cows from Spain was delayed due to pandemic slowdowns. Two hundred cows aboard died—with the remaining animals ordered to be killed upon their return to Spain.
The live export trade also fuels the global spread of disease, such as the introduction of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”) into Oman and Canada. Any conversation about where the next pandemic could come from must include the role the live export industry has played in spreading avian influenza virus, Nipah virus, and African swine fever virus—which experts fear could one day threaten humans.
From an environmental perspective, the live export trade carries the heavy environmental and climate impacts of animal agriculture, along with additional unique burdens. Transporting animals over such long distances entails additional greenhouse gas emissions. In Brazil, the live export trade has been linked to illegal deforestation, human slavery, and water pollution. The vast majority of cows raised for live export in Brazil come from the State of Pará. Pará has some of the highest rates of deforestation in the entire Amazon region. An investigation conducted by Repórter Brasil in collaboration with Mercy For Animals (MFA) found that large exporters of live cows were indirectly implicated in illegal deforestation in Pará. In particular, exporting companies that had signed onto agreements with the Brazilian government promising not to deal with suppliers engaged in illegal deforestation were nonetheless buying cows raised by embargoed suppliers. Those same companies were also found to have purchased cows from farmers on the “dirty list” of cattle raisers from whom the government had rescued workers out of slave labor. Live animal export has also caused water pollution in Pará. In 2015, the cargo ship Haidar capsized and sank in the Port of Vila do Conde. The wreck resulted in the death of 5,000 oxen and spilled oil, compromising the livelihood and health of communities and ecosystems along the river.
Legislation and Litigation Efforts to Curb the Trade
Considering the toll that the live export industry takes on animals, workers, public health, and the environment, the case for a ban is strong. Thus far, only four countries have banned live export by sea, starting with India in 2018. In 2021, New Zealand announced its plan to entirely phase out live export by sea and the United Kingdom announced that it will soon be the first country in Europe to ban live exports, with Luxembourg to follow by prohibiting export for slaughter outside of the EU. Bans have been proposed three times in the Brazilian legislature since 2018, but they face an uphill battle.
In response to public pressure, other countries have enacted seasonal or partial bans, such as Australia’s restriction on live exports during the northern hemisphere’s summer. Australia’s seasonal ban came in response to the heat stress documented by Animals Australia investigators aboard live export ships. The country has, however, granted exceptions to the ban—including allowing a shipment of 56,000 sheep in 2020. In 2021, Ireland banned live exports during the hottest months of July and August. Thus far, the Irish ban has withstood legal challenges from industry.
In other countries, advocates have pursued litigation seeking to curtail the worst aspects of the trade. In Canada, the Canadian Horse Defense Coalition sued the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in an attempt to ban the live export of horses for human consumption. The court held that the CFIA had discretion and that the Coalition had “not proven that a public legal duty to act exists.” In response to a 2018 lawsuit filed by animal protection groups in Brazil alleging violations of animal cruelty legislation, on a Friday, the Federal Court of São Paulo enjoined a shipment of 27,000 cows from leaving port and, remarkably, issued a national ban on live exports to countries without “slaughter practices in line with those of the Brazilian legal system.” By the following Monday, however, the appellate court had reversed the lower court’s decision, lifting the ban and allowing the ship to leave. In a smaller-scale victory, in 2021 a court in Cologne, Germany enjoined the departure of a truck carrying 132 pregnant cows. The court cited “inhumane” conditions upon arrival as superseding the financial loss of the exporter.
The varying degrees of success of these legislative and litigation approaches around the world demonstrate the entrenchment of animal agriculture interests and the barriers to ending the live export trade. Yet, these examples also show that different approaches can work in different places to help curb the worst aspects of the trade and to improve animal welfare. Advocates should continue to push for change, both in legislatures and in court.
