Government announces ban on live export by sea

14/04/2021

A huge win for animals came today as Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced a ban on live cattle exports by sea, to be phased out within the next two years.

This would not have happened without our passionate supporters as well as the many other animal organisations and brave experts who've taken a stand on this issue, for many decades now.

Simone Clarke, Executive Director at World Animal Protection New Zealand said:

“World Animal Protection thanks Minister O’Connor for finally phasing out the abhorrent live export trade (by sea).

“For more than a decade, World Animal Protection has been lobbying governments around the world to end the immoral live export trade.

“The New Zealand governments’ announcement to phase out live exports, in the coming years, is a significant moment in our history for animals; one which other governments around the world must now follow, including Australia.”

More than 100,000 cows suffer unnecessarily during live export by sea because of the unbearable conditions on board. The extreme stress, illness and injury the animals endure can go on for journeys of up to 35 days.

Thousands of animals die in transit. Many of those that survive the journey are handled badly at their destination and killed while fully conscious. This is a shameful trade where sentient lives are traded for short-term economic gain.

We will be keeping a close eye on the phase-out process because whilst we understand that existing trade contracts take time to exit from, we cannot ignore that every time a live export ship goes to sea there are inherent risks to both human and animal life. This cannot be avoided even with an expiry date in place.

We can’t wait to finally banish this barbaric trade to our history books of shame.