Stop Live Transports

The countries which export live transports to Israel include Australia, Portugal, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, France and Serbia.

The journey begins when some of the animals are only a few weeks old. They are loaded into trucks for the long ride to the port, where they are crammed into ships. This process often includes abuse such as whipping the scared newborn calves in order to move them along. From there, a hellish voyage awaits them. It can take as long as ten days from Europe and three weeks from Australia.

At sea, far from the public eye, the animals are kept in filthy, overcrowded conditions, standing in their own excrement on rocking ships. Many do not survive, and sometimes their corpses are thrown overboard.

Weak, exhausted, often injured and sick, the animals arrive to the ports of Eilat, Haifa or Ashdod. Once again, electric prods, kicks and blows are used to unload them from the ships onto trucks that will take them to quarantine stations, an intermediate stop on the way to the fattening pens which many won’t survive. They will leave the fattening pens on the last day of their lives, when they are sent to slaughter.

“Adom Adom” and “Dabach” are the main importers of live transports, as well as a few smaller meat brands. However, a consumer in the supermarket can’t distinguish between meat derived from locally raised animals and meat derived from animals transported in live transports. As evidenced from the many photographs and investigations we have conducted, all industrial meat production inherently involves abuse.

Live transports are a relatively new phenomenon in Israel - they started in the late 1990’s when the Israeli market was opened to free trade, without any public discussion of the process’s ramifications. Why do the live transports happen? Some claim that there is not enough land in Israel to raise the number of animals needed for the meat demand. The meat industry does indeed consume large expanses of land, but importing animals isn’t the only way to satisfy consumer demand, and there is also the option of importing frozen or chilled meats (which poses environmental and ethical issues as well). However, the main reason for live shipping are the financial interests of meat corporations in different countries, which are reflected in government policy. In Israel, for example, the government cancelled the tax on importing calves in 2014, issued financial grants to the local meat industry and even allocated 4.5 million ILS for the marketing and branding of fresh meat.

When it comes to the environment, meat production creates pollution and is an extreme waste of resources. It takes approximately 4,000 liters of water and vast amounts of food to produce just one hamburger. Today, most of the world’s grain supply is used for feeding farm animals, yet just one fifth of the food consumed by animals gets converted into edible meat. Therefore, it is much more environmentally friendly to eat plant-based food: plant-based food cultivation provides 10 to 21 times more protein per unit of land than meat production.
Additionally, live transports involve pollution emissions from ships, trucks and airplanes, as well as pollution of the sea with animal secretions and the corpses of animals that die on the journey.

Ongoing widespread public protest can bring about change. Just like we stopped the force-feeding of geese and wild animal exploitation in circuses, we can also stop these live transports. Opposition to live transports is growing all over the world, and we are working in cooperation with organizations in Australia and Europe to put an end to this excessive abuse. Here are a few simple things each one of us can do to help:

Sign the petition, and send it to your friends and acquaintances - let’s show the decision-makers that there is a large community who opposes the abuse of animals.

Donate to the cause - our activities are only made possible thanks to our regular donors. You, too, can donate and help - together, we can do even more! Make a secure donation

Vote with Your Fork - When we boycott the meat industry, we are refusing to fund the abuse of animals. When we replace meat with plant-based alternatives, we are saving lives. Sign up for Challenge 22 - recipes, tips and guidance from clinical dietitians, all for free!