Target: John Steenhuisen, Minister of Agriculture, South Africa
Goal: Prohibit live animal exports by sea and reject draft rules that allow voyages marked by heat stress, overcrowding, injury, and death.
Australia has announced a phase-out of live sheep exports by sea, and New Zealand has already banned such shipments. In contrast, South Africa has floated draft regulations that would keep live export vessels moving, even as extensive evidence describes voyages where animals endure crushing heat, overcrowding, hunger, and disease risk. Independent Observer reports for 2018–2023 on sheep routes from Australia to the Middle East documented heat stress on well over half of sailings, and multiple sinkings of livestock carriers since 2009 underline grave welfare and safety concerns. Against this backdrop, leading animal-protection groups from Australia and New Zealand now urge South Africa to end the practice rather than entrench it.
Despite attempts elsewhere to tighten oversight through systems like ESCAS and ASEL, animals on long-haul sea journeys experience panting, collapsing, and dying in high-temperature holds. On-deck overcrowding drives trampling and injury, while prolonged transport stress can precipitate immunosuppression, illness, and suffering that no checklist can reliably prevent. Advocates further warn that these ships have faced recurrent mechanical, ventilation, and biosecurity problems at sea, where help is distant and accountability diffuse.
A policy that merely “manages” live export would normalize cruelty that modern science says cannot be designed away. Humane, human-relevant trade already moves chilled and frozen products; no economic objective justifies a system that condemns sentient beings to weeks of fear and pain. Sign below to demand South Africa reject the draft sea-export regulations, institute an immediate moratorium, and legislate a permanent prohibition on live animal exports by sea, paired with enforcement, transition assistance, and strengthened domestic welfare standards.
‘PETITION LETTER:’
Dear Minister John Steenhuisen,
We respectfully urge your office to prohibit live animal exports by sea and to reject any draft regulations that would keep this system in place. Extensive evidence from comparable routes describes animals confined for weeks in stifling conditions, where heat stress, overcrowding, injury, and mortality recur despite oversight frameworks.
Reports detail voyages in which sheep and cattle were seen panting, collapsing, or dying during high-temperature sailings, with prolonged transport compounding fear, dehydration, and disease risk. Since 2009, multiple livestock carriers have sunk, illustrating how welfare dangers at sea can escalate beyond rescue. Given these facts, continuing live exports would, in effect, endorse suffering that modern logistics and chilled-product trade can avoid.
We ask you to enact an immediate moratorium and advance legislation to permanently end live animal sea exports, while strengthening enforcement, biosecurity, and on-shore welfare standards. A clear prohibition—rather than incremental rule-tweaks—will prevent future harm, align South Africa with emerging international norms, and demonstrate leadership grounded in compassion and science.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Roee Shpernik
