The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) welcomes and commends the South African Veterinary Association’s (SAVA) formal position statement opposing the export of live animals by sea for slaughter at destination. This declaration reinforces what the NSPCA has long maintained through its work on the ground and in the courts: this practice is inherently cruel, unenforceable, and has no place in a country that takes animal welfare seriously.
SAVA now joins many other international veterinary associations in condemning this practice. SAVA’s statement, released on 22 April 2026, draws on extensive peer-reviewed scientific research to conclude that the welfare of animals transported by sea is unavoidably compromised. It identifies a range of inherent harms, among them thermal stress, dangerous ammonia accumulation, the physical impact of ship motion, and risk of infectious disease. It makes a critical distinction that these are not incidental risks capable of being regulated away, but rather structural features of every shipment.
This is a position the NSPCA has advanced for years.
“We are deeply encouraged by SAVA’s statement,” says the NSPCA’s Consulting Veterinarian, Dr Bryce Marock. Dr Marock has engaged with SAVA on this issue over an extended period and was invited by the World Veterinary Association, of which SAVA is a member, in 2024 to speak about the welfare problems encountered during the transportation of animals by sea. “The science has always been clear. What has been missing is the weight of the veterinary profession speaking with one voice. That voice has now been raised, and it cannot be ignored.”
As the largest voluntary veterinary body in South Africa, SAVA’s determination that live export by sea is indefensible from a welfare standpoint directly undermines the industry’s claim that the practice can be more acceptable through better management or regulation. It cannot. As SAVA’s statement confirms, no regulation can eliminate the suffering that is inherent to these shipments. The NSPCA has directly witnessed the extreme conditions on these vessels. These are not isolated incidents but expected outcomes of live export. The suffering is built into the process.
This matters particularly against the backdrop of the Draft Regulations for the Exportation of Live Animals by Sea, published by the Department of Agriculture in July 2025. The NSPCA has lodged a detailed submission in opposition to the Draft Regulations, which it regards as fundamentally inadequate. The draft carries no criminal sanctions, no administrative fines, and no meaningful enforcement mechanisms. It further fails to mandate an embargo on shipments to the Middle East during the hottest period of the year, when the risk of fatal heat stress is at its highest, and reduces critical safeguards to vague or voluntary provisions.
SAVA’s position statement joins a chorus that now spans animal welfare organisations, rights bodies, and South Africa’s largest voluntary veterinary body. South Africa has reached a point where the question is no longer whether the science supports live export. The question is whether the Department of Agriculture will continue to prioritise trade interests over a mountain of evidence that is both compelling and growing.
The NSPCA remains firmly opposed to the exportation of live animals by sea and calls for it to come to an end.
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