Movement
There are occasions when sheep need to be moved - whether for their own benefit, or for humans’ purpose. The level of stress and discomfort to sheep from being moved varies according to type and circumstance of the movement.
Sheep will need to be taken from one pasture to another nearby, be rounded up for reasons, and be gathered. The activity will be done by person or persons, on foot, on quad bike or in other vehicle, and likely with assistance from sheepdog(s). Such movements are routine and familiar to sheep. If they are done by persons and sheepdogs known to them (and albeit that the latter, as dogs, represent predators), and if the move is effected with calmness and without the sheep being moved more quickly than their natural speed, stress to them will be small.
If it is necessary for sheep to be moved on foot along roads, for the safety of all concerned, the activity requires to be done with as much speed as feasible; but the concomitant will be heightening of stress and discomfort for the sheep.
Movement to places more than walking and droving distance away - to not-in-the-vicinity grazing, to a show, to a sale, to a slaughterhouse - requires sheep to be transported in a vehicle. There is a consequent increase in potential for sheep to suffer. Sheep being transported from their home base - and whether or not in their owner’s trailer - will most likely have comfort and familiarity of being with fellows from their flock. And if returning whence they came, they will have the same consolation on their return journey.
Going onwards from elsewhere to somewhere new and unknown is fundamentally different, giving increased stress to the sheep. There is unfamiliarity and unknowingness. Their human handlers are unlikely to be known to the sheep; most probably sheep who are usual companions will be travelling with more and other sheep and who they do not know, or by contrast one sheep might be journeying on its own which would be very fear-inducing; the transport vehicle will be probably be unfamiliar, and may also be of an unfamiliar type. Further stress will occur if they are thrust, with a great lot of others, largely or wholly strangers, into a vehicle which is not only unknown but which is very large - a livestock transporter. The sheep’s journey may be much longer than they are used to. It may be indeed be so far as to be to another country, and perhaps involving not just being moved on a lorry but also being carried on a ship.
Discussing ‘Key live transport welfare issues’ in relation to farm animals, the RSPCA states:
‘Long-distance live transport can cause farm animals a number of welfare problems, including:
Mental distress
- due to the unusual and potentially frightening sights, movements, noises, smells, unfamiliar animals and people they’ll encounter.
Injuries
- if they’re not handled appropriately and carefully during loading and unloading, and transported in well-designed, comfortable vehicles.
Hunger and dehydration
- if they’re not provided with appropriate food, water and plenty of rest breaks.
Heat stress
- if they’re transported for long periods in hot weather.
The risk of these problems happening increases with journey time.’
There is a rising scale of risk to sheep to suffer due to being moved: from probability of only suffering slightly from being moved on foot ‘around the farm’ and its hinterland; through likelihood to suffer to a degree from any transportation by any vehicle; and reaching to, almost inevitable, dreadful suffering when being transported long distance.
Yet, still, the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, which contains the proposal to prohibit export from Great Britain of livestock for slaughter etc, has not yet been passed to become law.
