Since then Saudi Arabia has been negotiating towards a bilateral Arrangement with New Zealand to reopen the way for the export of live sheep for export.

Earlier this month, New Zealand’s Minister of Agriculture, Hon. David Carter, revealed that progress towards an Arrangement with Saudi Arabia had been reached, indicating that the deal could be signed within a matter of weeks. The draft Arrangement follows the same terms as the agreement between Australia and Saudi Arabia which has paved the way for the resumption of live sheep exports from Australia.

The Minister has insisted that any future exports would have to meet strict animal welfare standards, as laid out in the Customs Exports Prohibition (Livestock for Slaughter) Order.

WSPA is calling for the New Zealand Government to decline any export requests

The World Society for the Protection of Animals along with the country’s other animal welfare organisations is urging the Government to decline any requests to export live sheep to Saudi Arabia.

The stark fact is that despite the efforts of many Governments to improve the welfare of transported livestock, it is impossible to prevent the inherent suffering of animals transported long distances by sea.

The conditions of the transport in the live export trade result in the death of tens of thousands of animals every year and the suffering of many more.

Transporting animals long distances involves changes to their whole environment; they are moved from familiar areas and encounter strange materials, smells, sights, sounds and vibrations, they may be handled and mixed with unfamiliar animals, subjected to changes in temperature and air movement, possibly hurt or injured and restricted in terms of space, feed and water.

The biggest cause of death on the ships results from a failure to eat, due to animals being moved from a pasture-based diet to concentrated pellets, which they simply do not recognize as food.

In 2006, Australia, the world’s largest exporter of sheep for slaughter, exported more than four million sheep to the Middle East. Almost 37,000 of these animals died from pneumonia, salmonellosis and starvation during the grueling journey

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