Every year hundreds of millions of animals around the world are exported live for slaughter. They not only suffer on lengthy sea journeys but our investigations have revealed the terrible fate that can await them in destination countries.
Animals Australia – and our global arm, Animals International – has conducted dozens of investigations throughout Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. We’ve not only tracked the treatment of Australian animals but those from South America and Europe, providing evidence to and supporting colleague groups in their efforts to end the trade from their countries.
Our investigations have resulted in dozens of major media exposés, in Australia and overseas. Our 2011 investigation in Indonesia led to a national public outcry and forced the Australian government to regulate the live trade for the very first time. Then in 2024, in response to shocking footage of sheep suffering and dying from heat stress on live export voyages, the Australian parliament passed legislation to phase out the live sheep trade by 1 May, 2028.
Animals Australia’s investigations over two decades have dragged this industry out of the shadows and forced an unprecedented level of public and political scrutiny and accountability on export companies that for far too long acted as a law unto themselves.
