Animals should only be transported when their welfare can be appropriately managed, including for the pre- and post- transportation period, and the journey itself.
Transport is recognised to be inherently stressful for some animals, including livestock. Stressors may include mixing, close confinement, different stockpeople and handling techniques, movement of the vehicle and the novel environment.
Of considerable concern and a focus point for VAWA's advocacy is heat stress during transport. VAWA's Dossier | Transport says;
"Internationally, and in New Zealand, stock, after being transported by road, have been found dead on arrival at their destination. The principal cause of such deaths has been identified as heat stress. Clearly, those animals that had travelled in the same air space as those that had died, would have suffered from severe heat stress, despite surviving.
A recent study, conducted over a four-year period in New Zealand, showed that 67% of pigs that were being transported by road to an abattoir, suffered from varying degrees of heat stress.
Internationally, and nationally, heat stress during road transport has become the focus for considerable animal welfare concern."
Urgent attention is needed to find a resolution to transport heat stress. VAWA has developed a comprehensive Advocacy Plan on heat stress including during transport that includes a timeline with milestones. The advocacy plan has been developed with the intention of progressing a whole of sector resolution for heat stress, including transport heat stress.
Read VAWA's Position | Transport at the link below.