Live Animal Exports

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have noted, that the global number of live farm animals (cattle, chicken, goats, pigs and sheep) crossing borders, has quadrupled in the last 50 years (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/27/eu-revealed-to-be-worlds-biggest-live-animal-exporter). The FAO recorded that 1.8bn live farm animals were exported in 2019, with 1.6bn of these, originating in the Economic Union (EU). The EU is actually responsible for 80% of the global trade in live farm animals. This trade is, of course, associated with animal welfare issues. There can be problems with transport (which can be stressful), treatment of animals in their destination countries and possible disease transfer. Different species have different issues. 95% of the animals crossing a border were chickens (mainly chicks), whereas cattle accounted for less than 1%. Rather obviously, chicks have different requirements from cows. Individual EU countries seem to specialise in particular species of farm animal. For example, Denmark is the world's largest exporter (they moved 15.7m in 2019) of pigs (mainly piglets, for rearing and fattening). Germany exported 312m (mainly immature) poultry in the same year. Roumania sent (with the aid of EU subsidies), 3m sheep to Saudi Arabia for rictual slaughter. The EU figures are probably somewhat inflated by geography. It is easy to move farm animals across actual borders in the EU. Whereas, moving an animal from one state to another, in the US, might involve similar distances and issues but it wouldn't count as exporting (unless the beast finished up in Canada or Mexico). Having said that, there ought to be scope, in the EU, to reduce live animal exports and to, at least, ensure common welfare standards for transportation and treatment. They should probably look again at their use of subsidies?