A horrible odor swept across Cape Town, South Africa yesterday. Suspecting a leak or other failure at local sewage facilities, city official sent in inspectors and called up an environmental health team. They followed their noses to the Port of Cape Town, ultimately identifying a ship in the harbor as the source of the stink.
Inside were 19,000 heads of cattle mid-journey from Brazil to Kuwait. Apparently it had stopped at the port to load more feed for the animals. South Africa's National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sent veterinary consultants aboard the ship and it was apparently a miserable scene.
From the AP:
"This smell is indicative of the awful conditions the animals endure, having already spent 2½ weeks onboard, with a buildup of feces and ammonia," the council said in a statement. "The stench onboard is unimaginable, yet the animals face this every single day."
In an update on the situation on Tuesday, the organization added "this incident serves as a stark reminder that the live export of animals by sea is a gruesome and outdated practice that inflicts unnecessary suffering on sentient beings.[…]
South Africa's Democratic Alliance political party, which governs Cape Town, also condemned the transport of live cattle.
"Live export, as evidenced by this situation, exposes animals to perilous conditions such as dangerous levels of ammonia, rough seas, extreme heat stress, injuries, dirty environments, exhaustion, and even death," the party said in a statement.
(via Fark)
