Press release – June 14th 2025

Today, 14 June, marks the tenth annual Ban Live Exports International Awareness Day, and this year, OIPA, together with citizens and NGOs across the globe will be raising awareness of the appalling conditions faced by millions of farmed animals each year on long sea journeys.

Events will be taking place across the globe from England and Ireland to Australia and Ecuador, including port gatherings, cinema screenings and marches to parliaments.

Every year, millions of live animals – including calves, sheep, goats and pigs – are transported by sea on journeys, some lasting up to several weeks, where they are vulnerable to immense suffering. They can face extreme conditions such as overcrowding, exhaustion, dehydration, pain, and stress, often with little or no legal protection for their welfare.

In addition, disasters can strike onboard; fires, ship sinkings, disease outbreaks, and trade route blockages, resulting in dire consequences causing thousands of casualties. Just weeks ago, it was reported that a ship transporting live animals ran aground near Yemen, resulting in the deaths of 160 sheep.

Ban Live Exports International Awareness Day was first launched in 2016, to mark the anniversary of 13,000 sheep losing their lives when exported from Romania to Jordan and then Somalia in 2015.

Since then a number of countries have introduced bans on the trade. Great Britain introduced a ban on live exports for fattening and slaughter in 2024, and Australia which is phasing out live sheep exports by sea by 2028. Other European countries have acted, including Luxembourg in 2022, which banned exports to regions beyond the EU. In 2023, Germany announced that it would withdraw live exports certificates for trade outside of the EU for breeding, further fattening and slaughter.

Despite this progress, many more countries continue the trade, transporting live animals hundreds or even thousands of miles across oceans. In 2023, sheep were exported from Portugal to Israel and from South Africa to Mauritius, goats were exported from Spain to Saudi Arabia and cattle from Australia to the Middle East.³

The EU is one of the biggest drivers of the trade by sea, impacting the welfare of hundreds of thousands of animals each year. Many are transported initially by land, and then onwards by sea to countries outside the EU, even as far as Jordan in the Middle East –  a journey that can take as long as fifteen days. This year alone, over 140,000 unweaned calves have been transported on 18-hour sea journeys between Ireland and France, and then onwards by road on long journeys to other countries including Poland.

Today OIPA, together with over 100 global NGOs, has submitted a complaint to the EU Parliament regarding the lack of enforcement to ensure these young animals are fed as required on these sea crossings.

Currently, the over-20-year-old EU transport rules fail to reflect the latest scientific evidence on animal welfare. The European Food Safety Authority is calling for welfare improvement during transport, including providing more space, lowering maximum temperatures and keeping journey times to a minimum. New proposals to update the EU Transport Regulation are currently being reviewed by the European Parliament and Council but, regrettably, in their current state they would do little to offer stronger protection. There are even suggestions to exclude sea journeys from overall journey times – a shocking move that would cause untold additional suffering.

ONG’s say: “On this tenth Ban Live Exports International Awareness Day we are raising awareness of the scale and impact of these cruel journeys by sea and sending a clear message to the companies that profit from this misery that it is totally unacceptable. We urge anyone who cares about animal welfare to show their support for urgent action by sharing campaign posts on social media and by avoiding travelling with the companies that profit from this appalling trade”.