Other Welfare Issues
Transportation of Live Animals
Sometimes, animals may be slaughtered on or near to the farm on which they are raised. However, most farmed animals are usually transported considerable distances from the farm to the slaughterhouse to be slaughtered.
The length of these journeys varies, but they can last for several hours or even days or weeks, especially if animals are being exported from one country and imported into another. Animals may be transported over land, by sea and occasionally by air.
Live transportation can cause farmed animals numerous welfare problems. The longer the journey, the greater the risk of these problems occurring.
Animals are likely to suffer from mental distress due to the unfamiliar surroundings and sensations that may frighten them i.e. the movement, sights, noises, smells and unfamiliar people that they encounter. Animals may be injured due to rough or inappropriate handling when being loaded onto or unloaded from trucks and other vehicles. If the vehicles are not designed to contain the animals safely, they may be injured from being thrown around during the journey. Animals, particularly chickens and birds, are often packed tightly into small cages for transportation, causing physical discomfort. It is common practice to not give food or water to animals being transported to slaughterhouses, and this undoubtedly causes physical and mental distress. Animals on trucks and boats can be exposed to extremes of weather, from high temperatures to freezing temperatures and heavy rain.
In Southeast Asia, it is common to see animals crammed onto tracks being transported to slaughterhouses by road, for example cattle standing on the back of open-air trucks, and chickens and ducks packed tightly into small cages stacked several layers high on large trucks. These animals are often subjected to extremes of heat and rainfall.
Cattle on a transport truck arriving at a saleyard in Thailand.
Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur, We Animals Media for The Guardian.
Pigs who have reached market weight lie in cages on the back of a pickup truck at a farm in Thailand. Once all the pigs are loaded, they will be taken to slaughter.
Credit: Andrew Skowron / We Animals Media.
Broiler chickens are tightly packed into cages, awaiting transportation by truck. Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur, We Animals Media.
Ducks arriving at a slaughterhouse after being crammed into small cages piled on top of one another on the back of a truck. Many do not survive the journey. Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur, We Animals Media.
Transportation methods on a smaller scale can also involve poor welfare. For example, a typical sight in countries where live animal markets (wet markets) are commonplace is that of live chickens and ducks crudely transported on motorbikes, either in cages or simply tied up with rope. In Southeast Asian countries, there is often a preference among consumers for freshly slaughtered poultry meat from fresh markets, meaning that such basic transportation from farm to market is common.
Live chickens being transported by motorbike in Myanmar.
Credit: Nathan Cima, Unsplash.