STOP LONG DISTANCE TRANSPORT TO SLAUGHTER

Every year, thousands of tourists flock to the supposedly idyllic Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, unaware that the meat served to them in restaurants suffered unbearable torture while still alive.

The cattle, sheep and goats spend up to 12 days, sea-sick and awash in their own excrement, crossing the high seas from the South African port of East London to the Mauritian port of Port Louis – for slaughter!

Animal Voice calls for this trade in needless suffering to stop!

Join us! Add your voice by signing this petition!

Make a donation: http://animalvoiceacademy.org/donate/

Animal Voice is already in conversation with MP’s who support our stand and we will take this to its logical conclusion.

In addition, Animal Voice will monitor every shipment – giving our supporters departure and arrival details and if possible, weather conditions sustained by our animals en route.

We demand that the Minister of Trade and Industry does not allow this horror to rest on the conscience of decent South Africans who want to live up to our Constitutional Right to Dignity.

Background:
14th June is International Day of Awareness to Stop Long Distance Transport to Slaughter.

Every year millions of farmed animals are shipped thousands of kilometres across the world for slaughter in foreign countries.

Crammed into the holds of livestock carriers, these gruelling and torturous journeys can take weeks. The animals become seasick, slip and slide on their own excrement, many fall and are trodden to death in the terror and chaos.

Temperatures range from freezing cold to excessive heat and sights of cows and sheep in fits of desperate panting is something shocking – and new - to behold.

South Africa is part of this international trade. Recently, on 23 April 2018, 600 cattle were shipped from the South African port of East London to Port Louis in Mauritius – enduring nine gruelling days - a total of 264 hours (including loading and unloading) – to slaughter in this foreign country.

· Watch this video clip of a former MP in Australia struggle to maintain his composure in the face of the suffering involved in long distance transport to slaughter:
https://www.facebook.com/SkyNewsAustralia/videos/10155434738996728/
· Watch South Africa’s own cattle pant like never seen before in the searing heat in the hold of a livestock carrier:
https://www.facebook.com/compassion.za/videos/10155453859768568/
· Read former ZNSPCA inspector Meryl Harrison’s eye-witness account of the toll of this brutal trade:
https://www.facebook.com/compassion.za/posts/10155459724233568

In December 2016, in a judgment granting the NSPCA the right to bring private prosecutions in certain circumstances, South Africans were reminded by a full bench of Constitutional Court judges that:
· animals are sentient beings capable of suffering and experiencing pain
· guardianship of the interests of animals reflects constitutional values and the interests of society at large
· animal protection safeguards the moral status of humans and the degeneration of human values

Today the Humane Education Trust joins the international call by animal rights organisations in 30 countries across the globe to bring an end to what has been dubbed ‘the ships of shame”.

We call on Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana, and Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies to ban the trade in live animals to Mauritius on the grounds that it is inhumane. Although SPCA inspectors oversee the loading of the animals on board ship, they have no control over the welfare of the animals once they leave port. Refrigeration allows for meat to be transported on the hook, not on the hoof.