Nearly 16, 000 Sheep Drown After Live Export Boat Capsizes

​worldanimalnews.com/15000-sheep-drown-after-a-ship-capsized-during-live-transport-in-sudan/

A boat carrying 16, 000 sheep capsized & sank at the Suakin Pier in Sudan prior to leaving for Saudi Arabia the following morning. The tragedy occurred but two days before the Ban Live Exports: International Awareness Day, which marks the anniversary of a similar incident that saw 13, 000 sheep perish on a journey from Romania to Somalia. Sadly, only about 700 sheep were rescued after the boat capsized at the pier, which means that over 15, 000 sheep spent their final moments frantically trying to stay afloat until they ultimately drowned. It's horrific but it won't be the last time if we do not address live exports.

Live exports of this nature are undeniably cruel in their treatment of animals. Typically, these animals are crammed into these boats with very little room to move and a serious lack of access to food & water. Depending on the length of their journey, there have been reports of animals dying of starvation, lack of water, or from breathing in polluted air from over populated spaces and lack of fresh air. These journeys do not respect animal welfare and these animals suffer tremendously during these exports.

In this case, the capsized boat had 6, 000 more sheep on it than it could accommodate, indicative of a lack of protocols in place to ensure animal safety. It's also indicative of a bigger issue; a complete lack of compassion for living, breathing animals. 

When we look at live exports, there are so many instances of blatant welfare issues that it's astounding that there hasn't been more attention directed to the cruelty involved in these exports. Can you imagine the absolute horror of witnessing tens of thousands of squealing animals drowning before your eyes? It shouldn't happen even once but the fact is, it's happened multiple times. If animals aren't dying from lack of food, water, or clean air, they're dying when the boat they're being transported on capsizes due to being over-populated. The well-being of animals on these journeys is the furthest thing from anyone's minds and that's why it's time to take serious action regarding live exports.

The only way to prevent these tragedies is to put an end to live animal exports. As I stated, animals on these journeys are subjected to unimaginable cruelty that puts their lives in danger the minute they are put on these boats. Lack of access to food and water, lack of mobility, pollution, heat exhaustion, and the possibility of capsizing put these animals in grave danger in order to feed humans. It's despicable and it's evident that these journeys are not safe. This will not be the last tragedy involving tens of thousands of animals drowning if live exports are not banned.

We must do better for animals. Follow the link at the top of this post to the original story from World Animal news where they've shared a petition urging the UK government to take action and ban live animal exports. We must act now and stop allowing these horrific events to continue to unfold.

HAPPY VEG