Live export failures continue: Australian sheep left to suffer

We promised you that until the very last sheep leaves our shores in 2028, we’ll keep a close watch on the live sheep export trade.

And what we uncovered in Jordan during last month’s Festival of Sacrifice, only reinforced how needed we are.

The disturbing findings of this investigation were recently published in The Guardian.

Our investigators documented some of the most harrowing consequences for sheep subjected to fully conscious slaughter. While unstunned slaughter is permitted under live export rules, the awful treatment we observed — and prolonged suffering it caused — is not.

What makes this cruelty all the more egregious is that we have reported this Australian-government-approved slaughterhouse before —and have now lodged a new legal complaint before the regulator has even responded to the last one.

It’s not good enough that had we — a charity — not deployed investigators in Jordan, the suffering of these animals would have gone unnoticed and unreported.

Many will also share our dismay that the head of the live export lobby has dismissed our evidence as ‘minor’ — a response that speaks volumes about this industry’s acceptance of suffering.

Perhaps it’s easy to downplay cruelty in a trade built on it. But we will never lose sight of the individual. Every terrified sheep whose final moments we filmed in Jordan mattered to us. And we know they mattered to you too.

So, while we’re relieved to know that live sheep export will end one day, with your support, we will not take our eyes off it until it does.

We will ensure our legal complaint is taken seriously. We will fight for tougher sanctions on exporters who won’t follow the rules. And we will keep exposing the truth — until the very last sheep is safe from this trade.

• Donate to support our ongoing efforts to end live export  — your contribution will fund investigations, lobbying and legal action.