Investigation Reveals the Torment of Lambs During Live Export

Animal Equality’s latest investigation has revealed the gruelling journey of lambs being transported from Spain across the Mediterranean Sea. 

The distressing footage documents how lambs are treated during live export. Our investigators filmed these sensitive animals, all less than a year old, being crammed into trucks and travelling for hours on end. Once the trucks reach the Spanish port of Cartagena, the lambs are forced into tiny pens on ships, where they will spend up to ten days at sea. Frightened and disoriented, the animals are treated as nothing more than cargo, with our footage showing them being roughly handled and dragged along the floor.

The conditions on these ships are overcrowded and filthy, with animals forced to live amongst their own excrement. Extreme temperatures are also commonplace during these exhausting, prolonged journeys. 

Worldwide, over two billion farmed animals undergo long-distance travel every year, exported around the world for breeding, ‘fattening’ and slaughter. Following an accident in 2019 in which 14,000 sheep tragically drowned in the Black Sea, the European Commission released a concerning report acknowledging that no suitable inspections are carried out on ships which transport live animals, and that there are no guarantees that adequate drainage or ventilation systems are in place for the animals.

Here in the UK, thousands of animals such as sheep and calves continue to be transported to countries in Europe every year. These vulnerable young animals are forced to endure stressful journeys, often without enough food or water and in conditions that make it extremely difficult to rest. 

This cruel trade must end. We will do everything in our power to stop the live export of animals.