In May 2006, PETA launched a tour of Middle Eastern countries calling on citizens to support a ban on the deadly live export of sheep from Australia. PETA representatives also met with news media and individuals throughout the region in order to begin a grassroots campaign informing concerned citizens about the cruelty of live exports and urging both local governments and representatives of the Australian government to end live exports immediately.

PETA Asia-Pacific’s director, Jason Baker (accompanied by African representative Andrew Butler, Australian activist Jodi Ruckley, and Egyptian activist Nadia Montasser), launched the campaign with a news conference in Dubai and then began a three-week investigation-and-demonstration tour of Cairo, Jordan, and Kuwait.

The message was simple: Compassion toward animals should be a main concern of any civilized nation, and consideration for the well-being of animals should be at the forefront of all animal-related government policies in the Middle East and Australia. The treatment of animals involved in the live-export trade—animals who are shipped thousands of miles before being kicked in the face, beaten, prodded, and dragged off trucks by their ears and legs and into slaughterhouses, where their throats are slit while they are still conscious—is not only inhumane, it also flies in the face of the teachings of the Holy Qu’ran and of halal humane-slaughter laws, which state that everything possible must be done to minimize the suffering of an animal who is to be killed.

In addition to holding a series of colorful demonstrations at Australian embassies in Jordan, Cairo, and Kuwait, the group visited animal markets in Amman, Jordan, where Australian sheep had little shelter, were diseased, and were suffering from respiratory problems, blindness, severe skin conditions, and wool loss. A veterinarian who went with PETA to the markets in order to provide treatment to these distressed animals said that they were suffering from mineral deficiencies and acute ongoing stress—not a big surprise considering the terrible voyage halfway around the world that these sheep were forced to endure! This is just one tiny market with a few hundred sheep, so it is hard to imagine the overall suffering endured by the more than 800,000 sheep Australia sent to Jordan last year.

PETA’s ongoing investigations into the live-export trade reveal that nothing short of a complete ban on the trade can ensure animals’ well-being. If the people of Australia and the Middle East are concerned about basic animal welfare and about sourcing meat thatcomes from animals who have been slaughtered according to cultural, religious, humane, and hygienic requirements, then importing chilled meat from halal-certified slaughterhouses in Australia is the only compassionate option.

Please write to Australian government officials and urge them to end live exports immediately.

Watch video footage of sheep abuse in the live-export industry.