Stop the long distance transport of animals for slaughter

February 16, 2008

Following a two-year investigation, Handle with Care, a coalition of leading national and international animal welfare organizations led by WSPA, has launched a campaign to end the long distance transport of animals for slaughter.

Farm animals are often transported over long distances within and between countries on grueling journeys that can take days, weeks or even months. The animals suffer greatly from stress, exhaustion, injury, disease and sometimes death as they are transported in cramped quarters often without access to food, water or rest.

The Handle with Care Coalition identified some of the worst journeys around the world: the grueling, month-long trip that 4 million sheep annually make from Australia to the Middle East; the 3-week journey that 100,000 cattle endure under miserable conditions from Brazil to Lebanon; and the illegally-long drive suffered by 10,000 horses per year from Spain to southern Italy.

In North America, up to 15,000 pigs each year are shipped by truck and then ship from Canada and the mainland U.S. to the Hawaiian Islands. Forced to lie in their own excrement, the pigs make the journey without ever leaving cramped, filthy containers for up to a week or longer.

Although the transport of pigs from Canada to Hawaii has stopped for now, it could resume at any time, and animals shipped from the mainland U.S. continue to endure this long cruel journey.

You can help us put an end to this cruel and unnecessary trade. Find out how >>

View our ads and some of the positive press the campaign has generated >>

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