The plight of more than 16,000 animals stuck on a boiling-hot livestock carrier for the past month has made headlines around the world. Dr Lynn Simpson, a well-known former live export veterinarian, writes for Splash on the tragic, aborted voyage of the Bahijah, pictured today off Fremantle. With the world turning to faeces around us, why throw the dice to risk another calamity? There is no bon voyage here and no chance of an acceptable outcome for the animals. Processing in Australia after 29 days on a ship to nowhere or slaughter in Israel after a further 30 odd days added to and already extended voyage. How has a 17-day, routine (risky) voyage, with 16,000 animals onboard turned into a potentially two-month long captive negotiation debacle? First step, callous greed. The unique risks of shipping provide an element of chance and adventure to our lives, that’s why we humans are drawn to the sea, the money helps of course. However, imagine if you were bred to be deliberately killed, hustled from truck to truck, driven to the water’s edge at the ‘end of the world’, then chased onto a great big noisy ship, held in a crowded pen and sent with 16,000 other bewildered and freaked out animal captives to cross the world by sea? That pretty much sums up the live export trade. The trade is globally infamous for its ridiculous draconian atrocities, inflicting trauma, suffering and death on untold numbers of animals daily, weekly, yearly. Mechanical breakdowns, life threatening environmental challenges with both heat and cold, intensive housing helping infectious pathogens spread from one captive animal to another and of course the geopolitical risks that are ever growing. Most of these things are uncontrollable, however all are avoidable. The live trade needs to stop and convert to a chilled and frozen meat trade only. This particular farrago began in January 2024 when the Australian government failed to heed advice and pleas, to not approve this voyage by multiple groups in Australia who were following the escalating unrest in the Red Sea. Avoiding blatant risk of severe harm, especially with live, sentient cargo would be the right thing to do. But no, approval was granted for the usual trip of around 17 days. Ray Charles could ‘see’ the risks. The ship was loaded with unconsenting and resisting animals and sent towards a conflict zone. The live trade needs to stop and convert to a chilled and frozen meat trade only It was like the government employee with the rubber stamp, pictured the ship to be crewed by the Expendables. Captain Stallone, Chief Officer Statham. Were they picturing Dolph Lungren as Boson, wandering the decks armed to the hilt, appropriately soaked in sweat and the smell of excrement, busy with an inner monologue to the animals about lack of appreciation and not being valued as an individual? Closely behind ,a ‘put out’ Jet Li would be muttering to the animals about how no one on shore cares about any of them as he scoops more faeces out of the animal’s water troughs so they can drink less excrement contamination. Of enormous concern to me and others, with no shortage of morbid bemusement, was that this ship, the Bahijah, has an Israeli company name painted down each side in 3 m tall letters, and some pretty colourful flares either side to help it stand out from the crowd. If that wasn’t enough to make any Houthi operative put down their RPG to google its provenance on their smart phone, then the fact that the company name Bass