The treatment of farm animals is the world’s biggest animal welfare issue – and it’s getting bigger. By 2050, livestock production will be twice what it was in 2000. Right now, more than 70 billion animals are farmed for food each year – two-thirds in conditions that mean they can’t move freely or live naturally. Transporting these animals to market and to slaughter houses in a safe and humane way is one area of animal welfare that is particularly under-enforced and yet transportation and slaughter processes have the largest impact on the quality of food we eat and the livelihoods of farmers. Poor transportation leads to injuries and death of animals, which leads to condemnation and rejection at the slaughter houses, in effect to economic losses and also loss of meat impacting negatively on food security. In Kenya, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act Cap 360 was assented to in 1962 and last updated in the 1980s. Current rules are only for cows and are vague at best stating only that transport of animals must be in a ‘species-specific vehicle’. The regulations needed to enforce the transport and slaughter of animals have not yet been developed making it difficult to enforce Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Animal Welfare especially for farm animals is a relatively new concept in the African context, hence there is need to raise awareness on the impact of poor farm animal welfare on the quality of food that gets to our tables, livelihoods, food security and food safety. Commissioned by World Animal Protection, a charity which works to create “a world where animal welfare matters and animal cruelty has ended” this images series has been used as part of a campaign to petition the Kenya Government to update the laws and to bring greater awareness to local communities in an effort to improve regulations and welfare for transportation and slaughter processes for farm animals.

Commissioned by World Animal Protection