Sheep boiled to death on livestock ship, more face the same fate

Hundreds of sheep died of heat stress, burning in the hot sun on the livestock ship Al Shuwaikh. They had no space to move out of the sun and literally baked in their own skin. Animal welfare organization Animals International followed the ship that left on the 14th of July from Romania with almost 70.000 sheep on board.

The ship left with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius. The sheep were stuck on board for almost 3 weeks in extreme heat. They were ‘unloaded’ in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai, Qatar and Oman.

Animal rights organizations and members of the European Commission tried stopping the ship from leaving in those hot temperatures. But Romania ignored every plea to save the animals from extreme suffering and authorized the transport.

According to Eurogroup for Animals Romania plans to transport more sheep this way. This year over two million sheep will leave Romania to be slaughtered in other countries; a million to the Arab States of the Persian Gulf and another million to Jordan and Libya.

“It is clear that sheep have suffered terribly throughout this entire journey, and that’s before we even mention the routine abuse and fully conscious slaughter they are subjected to when they arrive at their destinations”, said Gabriel Paun, EU Director of Animals International.

“These sheep come from the green meadows and high mountains of the Romanian countryside, and the contrast in how they are treated in the live export trade is unimaginable.”

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