Undercover Animals Australia investigators have just returned from a harrowing investigation in the Middle East and Asia — where streets have literally run red with the blood of animals.

Exporting animals across the world only to be slaughtered is always cruel. But there's one time of year when cruelty is at its peak.

During the 'Festival of Sacrifice' we've seen terrified animals having their eyes stabbed, tendons slashed, and throats clumsily cut open.

Recently in Malaysia, Oman, Lebanon, Dubai and Kuwait we saw more carnage: panicked sheep and goats being tied up, beaten, shoved into car boots in scorching heat, and brutally slaughtered in the streets. Even in a so-called 'approved' slaughterhouse, suffering was extreme — with helpless animals left to die slowly as they choked on their own blood.

Terror and pain is as real to these gentle animals as it is to us. And as you read this, there are animals being sold into live export who risk this fate.

The introduction of Australian live export laws in 2011 makes much of this abuse illegal. But new evidence shows live exporters are still breaking these laws — abandoning thousands of cattle, sheep and goats to shocking abuse. Even the Australian Government admits the system is 'not perfect' — and that while live export continues, so will the atrocities. In other words, extreme acts of cruelty have become the accepted cost of keeping the live export trade afloat.

Except — that's not how laws are supposed to work. To date, not a single live exporter has ever been prosecuted for these 'crimes', or had their export licence suspended.

'Profit' is not a legal defence. Nor should it excuse animal abuse. One thing is clear:

If a trade is not viable without breaking laws and causing extreme suffering — then that trade should not exist.

Thousands of animals are destined to suffer illegal and egregious abuse until the Australian Government enforces its own laws. Please contact the Australian Embassy in your country: tell them that live animal export reflects terribly on Australia and that this cruelty must end.