NSPCA slams new live animal export rules as hollow words

The national watchdog warns that the regulations will do little to protect animals while at sea

- By Don Pinnock

(Photo: Smaragda Louw/BAT)

The Department of Agriculture invited public comment in July on the proposed regulations for the exportation of live animals by sea.

These regulations are intended to replace the department's March 2023 guidelines, which had no legal force and were criticised after a disastrous 2024 shipment of cattle to the Middle East caused a stink in Cape Town.

But the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA), South Africa's statutory animal welfare authority, says the new draft strips away key safeguards while failing to add teeth.

"Regulations without penalties are nothing more than paperwork," said senior inspector Nazareth Appalsamy, manager of the NSPCA's Farm Animal Protection Unit. "The industry must be held accountable and the law must empower the NSPCA to act when animals' lives are at risk."

The NSPCA's submission highlights critical gaps:

• No embargo on exports during extreme heat: Middle Eastern summer voyages, when sea temperatures soar and animals face agonising heat stress, remain permitted.

• Weakened standards: provisions on pregnancy, wool length, stocking density and feed have been reduced to vague, often voluntary language.

• Enforcement vacuum: despite the Constitutional Court affirming the NSPCA's nationwide enforcement role, the draft fails to mandate inspection or monitoring powers for the body.

According to the NSPCA, the effect is to weaken the already inadequate 2023 guidelines, raising suspicions that the industry's economic interests are being given priority over animal welfare.

"Unless the draft is amended to include binding, enforceable standards and explicit oversight powers for the NSPCA, we will have no option but to consider legal remedies," Appalsamy warned.

Hollow promises