On a freezing night early in January 1995, the Sussex port of Shoreham-by-Sea erupted into chaos. Hundreds of protesters blockaded the entrance in order to prevent a convoy of lorries transporting live calves – due to be exported overseas that night – from reaching a waiting ship. The demonstrators blocked the road and, despite the best efforts of police, forced the convoy to turn around.
The next night, there were further clashes as the activists – their numbers fuelled by coverage of the previous night’s events – once again forced the convoy to turn back. Multiple people were injured, some were arrested, and the streets nearby were lit up with the blue flashing lights of ambulances and police vehicles.
These dramatic events kickstarted a national wave of protests against the live export of the UK’s farm animals. Repeated demonstrations were seen at other ports throughout 1995, and even at an airport near Coventry after calves began to be flown out of the country. (During a protest near the airport, one activist died after being crushed under the wheels of a livestock transporter, prompting widespread outrage).
Opponents said the long distance transport of livestock was cruel, unnecessary, and involved excessive journeys to countries such as Spain, where animals would be fattened up for slaughter or re-exported elsewhere.
The journeys were all part of a much wider trade in European farm animals which continues to this day, with millions of livestock moved each year between countries, whether to other farms, or to markets, slaughterhouses or assembly centres from where many were then dispatched beyond European borders.
The largely grassroots protests quickly morphed into a full-blown political campaign, led by big guns from the animal welfare world. Decades of protracted and often-bitter arguments followed, but, in May 2024, government legislation finally banned the export of sheep, cattle, and pigs. Campaigners and ministers alike were jubilant.
But the story doesn’t end there. A flaw in the legislation means that the ban only applies to England, Wales and Scotland, with Northern Ireland – a powerhouse of livestock production – granted an exemption. This was because, according to the government, the region’s farmers needed “unfettered access” to lucrative UK and Irish markets.
Although most chose to focus on the good news, some campaigners and politicians warned that this “loophole” could see large numbers of animals continue to be subjected to lengthy journeys.
The Democratic Unionist Party MP, Sammy Wilson, told the House of Commons that the exemption would mean that “animals can be taken from Northern Ireland, exported through the Irish Republic, taken on a 23-hour boat journey to the European mainland, and then carried down to the south of Spain, France or indeed further abroad.”
New data shows they were right to be concerned: records seen by the AGtivist reveal how more than 700,000 animals have been exported from NI in the months since the ban came into force elsewhere in the UK.
This included 658,783 sheep, 32,380 pigs and 8870 cattle. Amongst the consignments were calves, some as young as two weeks old, as well as lambs, according to data compiled by the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA NI).
More than 400,000 of the sheep were sent to Ireland, the records show, but hundreds of thousands were also transported overseas, including to mainland UK, as well as to France, Belgium, Switzerland, Ukraine, Romania, Germany, Portugal and Spain, amongst other destinations. Cattle and pigs were exported to Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and mainland UK.
Whilst the data does not reveal journey lengths or routes, separate records, covering an earlier period, illustrate the durations endured by some NI farm animals. In one example, a consignment of 350 sheep were loaded up at an assembly centre near Newry before being trucked then shipped then trucked again – via Dublin port in Ireland and Cherbourg on France’s channel coast – to the Occitanie region in the south of the country. After a journey lasting almost three days, the sheep arrived at an abattoir for slaughter and processing.
Another saw almost 100 cattle from a farm near Moy being transported across the border into Ireland before being loaded onto a vessel bound for France. From there they were trucked down into Spain for delivery to a premises near the city of Lleida in Catalonia. The journey lasted five days.
Campaigners have long claimed that overcrowding, exhaustion, dehydration and stress are commonplace during long distance animal journeys, and that conditions along the “livestock chain” are often abhorrent.
Last year, an explosive Irish television investigation broadcast undercover footage of Irish calves being mistreated at a cattle export facility in Kerry, with pictures revealing calves being struck in the face, force-fed, jabbed with tools and dragged around by the ears and tail.
The revelations followed an earlier programme highlighting EU regulations being flouted: filmmakers followed a consignment of calves as they were moved by truck, and boat, from Wicklow in Ireland to Cherbourg in France, and on to Barcelona in Spain. The animals received minimal breaks and were not rested in accordance with regulations, the programme found. Driving time limits were also broken, according to investigators.
Standards onboard transport boats have also come under scrutiny. In 2021 it was reported that thousands of cattle were stranded at sea for months after two vessels, bound for Libya from Spain, were refused entry to multiple ports owing to an apparent outbreak of bluetongue disease. Many animals died. In 2019, thousands of sheep perished after a transport ship capsized after leaving Romania. Only around 200 animals survived from a consignment of more than 14,000; rescuers found some sheep swimming in the ocean, whilst most downed.
The AGtivist has previously seen for itself the fate of some UK calves exported to the continent, documenting consignments of animals as they crossed from France into Spain by truck, most bound for fattening farms. Some animals, identifiable by the distinctive UK-issued ear tags, were later found confined in rows of tiny hutches on grubby factory farms.
The trade has also raised concerns about the spread of disease, including antibiotic resistant pathogens. In 2022, a report by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) found that “long journeys that require rests in assembly centres and control posts are associated with higher risks, due to specific factors such as close contacts with animals from different farms, environmental contamination and stress.”
The study said that “minimising transport duration” and thoroughly cleaning vehicles, equipment, and spaces where animals are loaded and unloaded were “some of the measures considered effective in reducing the transmission of resistant bacteria during animal transport.”
The livestock industry has defended the wider trade on economic grounds, claiming that the movements are only made in response to demand. They also state that animal welfare remains a priority for most involved, as it only makes commercial sense to export healthy animals, pointing out that some factors – such as increasing distances to slaughterhouses, as a result of abattoirs closing – are beyond its control.
In NI, some estimates have suggested the export trade is worth as much as £70 million annually, a significant sum for farmers operating in sectors characterised by low margins. Industry bodies argue that without the option to export livestock, fair competition would be compromised and ultimately lead to a reduction in the prices that farmers receive.
For critics, this doesn’t cut the mustard. They say economic arguments, however persuasive, cannot justify the ongoing suffering, especially when the rest of the UK has extricated itself from the trade. They also say that alternatives exist: slaughter animals nearer to the point of production, then export the meat. Whilst this is dependent on abattoir capacity, as well as investment in cold storage facilities, refrigerated vehicles and other infrastructure, it is possible, they argue.
Either way, at present, the NI “loophole” remains. Whether there will be any significant move to close it remains to be seen. Watch this space.
The AGtivist is an investigative journalist who has been reporting on food and agriculture for 20+ years. The new AGtivist column at Wicked Leeks aims to shine a light on the key issues around intensive farming, Big Ag, Big Food, food safety, and the environmental impacts of intensive agribusiness.
Thank you for posting this informative article. I do not know why I am still surprised by the capacity and tendency of humans to be so indifferent to the suffering of defenceless animals. I hope things change, but, sadly, where money is involved, we take short cuts and damn the consequences to those at our mercy. I hope pressure is put upon those responsible for this aweful flaw in legislation.