 
A live export ship carrying 5,867 dairy cows from New Zealand has capsized. Tragically, every animal and all but one of the 42 crew members are presumed to have drowned. Authorities in New Zealand have suspended the live cattle trade while they investigate. John, please take action for the victims with our friends at SAFE NZ » 
PHOTO: ABC News - Australian & NZ dairy calves suffered in Sri Lanka during an earlier live export starvation crisis. Our friends at animal protection organisation SAFE, in New Zealand, have been working tirelessly to end the live export of pregnant dairy cows and sheep from that country for many years. They have already achieved a ban on the export of animals for slaughter — this latest disaster should surely be the catalyst needed to end the export of vulnerable 'breeding animals' too. It's critical that NZ's decision makers hear that the international community is watching and wants live export to end.
It's impossible to imagine the fear that would permeate on board a sinking live export vessel in the middle of a typhoon, in the middle of the ocean, in the pitch black of night. For the 42 crew members who were reportedly told to put on a life jacket and jump — for the nearly 6,000 animals who didn't stand a chance — the sinking of the Australian-operated MV Gulf Livestock 1 is a human and animal tragedy almost too painful to contemplate. But it's not an isolated tragedy for an industry defined by a litany of disasters. 
Just last year the world watched on in horror as another live export ship — the MV Queen Hind — capsized off the coast of Romania. It took global attention and an international outcry to convince the Romanian government to mount a rescue effort; but by then, it was too late. Most of the sheep — some 14,420 — went down with the ship. It was later discovered that thousands more animals had perished on this vessel when the company tasked with its recovery found 'secret decks' on board. This is the nature of the global live animal export trade. At 'best', animals are confined in cramped and stressful conditions, living in their own excrement for days and weeks on end. At 'worst', all those on board — people and animals — are at the mercy of climatic extremes; be it heat, storms or high seas. In fact, a live export ship carrying Australian dairy cows was recently in the same, typhoon-affected region at the centre of this latest tragedy. That ship may have stayed upright, but the experience of these animals on board during rough, high seas would have been terrible. And the risk of injury for dairy cows at sea is only exacerbated because of their long legs and weight distribution. Then imagine ... also being pregnant. And there is nothing more vulnerable than an animal on a live export ship in the middle of the open ocean ... especially when things go terribly wrong: 
And this is just a snapshot of the litany of disasters that have come to define a profit-driven industry that is as dangerous for animals as it is for the poorly-paid seafarers working on board. John, the death of animals at sea is nothing new. In fact, it's the cost of doing business for live exporters. Whether from Australia, Europe or South America, animals die on every live export journey. These deaths are so routine they don't make the news. But the experience and the suffering of these individuals — millions of them over decades — is very real.  PHOTO: ABC News - Australian & NZ dairy calves suffered in Sri Lanka during an earlier live export starvation crisis.
Our hearts are with the friends and family of the crew members who won't be returning home to them. This is a tragic loss of human life too and one that will weigh so heavily on so many people as they come to grips with the prospect of a future that won't have those they love dearly in it. And we stand in solidarity with our colleagues across the Tasman who are working relentlessly on behalf of the animals subjected to this cruel and risky trade. The disappearance — and likely sinking — of the MV Gulf Livestock 1 is an unmitigated human and animal welfare tragedy. But it doesn't take a tragedy like this to propel us further, because every day these ships sail with defenceless animals on board is a tragedy to us. We remain ever-committed to freeing animals from the shackles of this industry and from the conditioned worldview that their only value is in the meat or milk that their bodies produce. Thank you for helping make this possible. For the animals,
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