Cape Town cattle highlight awful conditions on livestock ships - BBC News

The stench from a vessel loaded with cattle which engulfed Cape Town has drawn attention to a wider issue.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Millions of farm animals endure long ocean voyages every yearBy Wedaeli ChibelushiBBC NewsResidents of Cape Town woke up to a pungent, sewage-like smell engulfing their neighbourhoods on Monday morning.

The source? A ship from Brazil carrying 19,000 cattle had anchored in the South African port city the night before, in order to reload on animal feed.

After performing an assessment on board the Al Kuwait, staff from a leading animal welfare organisation, the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA), said the cattle had been on board for two-and-a-half weeks and were living in a "build-up of faeces and ammonia [a gas released from urine]".

Conditions were "awful" and the stench was "unimaginable", the NSPCA said in its statement.

The ship has now left for Iraq but there will still be a funk in the air, campaign groups say.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-68351772

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