Inside the stinking ship at Cape Town harbour carrying 19,000 cattle to the Middle East

WARNING: Photographs below may distress readers.

‘If the smell in Cape Town CBD was so strong today, can one imagine what the animals have to smell inside the ship?”

This was a question posed by animal rights activist Carli Costa, who joined other protesters at the Taliep Petersen Bridge on Nelson Mandela Boulevard in Cape Town on Monday.

A protest on the Taliep Petersen Bridge on Nelson Mandela Boulevard in Cape Town on Monday against live animal export and the cattle ship in Cape Town Harbour on 19 February 2024. (Photo: Gallo Images / ER Lombard)

The Al Kuwait docked in Cape Town harbour on Monday. (Photo: Shelley Christians)

They were picketing against live animal exports following the docking of the livestock carrier ship Al Kuwait, which caused a foul smell in parts of Cape Town, including Green Point, the Waterfront, Woodstock and Observatory.

The ship, which is transporting 19,000 cattle to Iraq, had been at sea for eight days and was travelling from Brazil when it made an emergency stop at Cape Town harbour. An employee at the harbour said the ship docked for fuel, water, food and medication for the crew and the animals.

A cow is inspected by the SPCA in the Al Kuwait carrier, docked at Cape Town harbour on Monday, 19 February 2024. (Photo: Supplied)

Cattle in the Al Kuwait carrier. (Photo: Supplied)

A cow in the Al Kuwait carrier. (Photo: Supplied)

Read more in Daily Maverick: Livestock carrier docked in Cape Town causes big stink and animal welfare beef

Distressed and dead

Pictures leaked to Daily Maverick show distressed cattle, some of which had been lying in their urine and faeces for the past eight days. According to Transnet, the Al Kuwait was expected to leave Cape Town on Tuesday, but the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) said it would leave on Wednesday.

It will be at sea for another 24 days before it reaches the Port of Basra in Iraq and there is little to no space on the ship in which the animals can move freely.

Grace de Lange from the NSPCA inspected the ship with the Cape of Good Hope SPCA team, including NSPCA veterinary consultant Dr Bryce Marock.

“There is a lot of build-up of faeces and when that happens you get ammonia,” she told Daily Maverick on Monday evening.

Cattle in the Al Kuwait carrier. High levels of ammonia can adversely affect the respiratory systems and eyes of cattle. (Photo: Supplied)

Cattle in distressing conditions in the Al Kuwait carrier docked at Cape Town harbour. (Photo: Supplied)

Cattle in the Al Kuwait carrier have been kept in filthy conditions. (Photo: Supplied)

Cattle in the Al Kuwait carrier. (Photo: Supplied)

Cattle in the Al Kuwait carrier. (Photo: Supplied)

High levels of ammonia can adversely affect the respiratory systems and eyes of cattle.

“According to the captain we spoke to, they clean the vessel when they are in the waters,” De Lange said.

She said that did not make sense as the ship could be stuck in port for a few days if the delivery of food for the animals was slow.

“Animals are going to defecate every day. We had to put a few animals down on the recommendation of the vet because of the condition they were in and we also found some dead animals.”

De Lange said the ship’s crew did not have adequate medication to give to the animals, which have to endure weeks of travelling.

“Some of the medications they are giving are not 100% correct. For example, with the eye problems some of the cattle are having, they do not have any medicine.”

De Lange said the NSPCA had been in court multiple times in cases against the company that owns the Al Kuwait. This article will be updated after the company has been given a chance to comment.

“We have been in and out of the high court on numerous occasions since 2019. We do not mind if you farm animals, but it’s how you do it,” De Lange said.

In 2022, the NSPCA succeeded in stopping the proposed shipment of between 55,000 and 85,000 live sheep to Kuwait, claiming that 24 days at sea in blistering heat constituted cruelty to animals.

‘Unnecessary cruelty’

The cattle that are being transported to Iraq cannot be slaughtered and frozen before transportation as some will be slaughtered according to religious practices.

“We are against live animal export and believe the unnecessary cruelty should stop,” said protester Costa.

“The animals should be slaughtered in the country of origin and not have to endure immense suffering at sea for weeks at a time. They are forced to put up with extremely high temperatures, lack of space and high ammonia levels.”

Deidré Daniels from Four Paws, an organisation against the exporting of live animals, said the practice of exporting live animals from South Africa was growing. Sheep, cattle and goats are shipped across the world, sometimes for weeks at a time, to other countries, where they are killed.

She noted that several countries, including New Zealand and the UK, had banned or were planning to ban the practice.

“There is insufficient regulation in place and raising animals in the country simply to be transported to be killed in another means that South Africa bears the harmful impacts associated with animal agriculture while the importing country does not,” Daniels said.

She said animal welfare concerns include:

• Maximum loading densities being exceeded, resulting in overcrowding, injuries and death.


• Rough handling of animals during loading and unloading, causing fear and serious injuries.


• Temperature limits being exceeded, resulting in animals dying of heat strokes or freezing to death.

The city’s mayoral committee member for community services and health, Patricia van der Ross, condemned the horrific conditions the animals faced aboard the Al Kuwait.

“We are appreciative of these proactive efforts by SPCA officials to assess conditions on the ship. The city has further called on the Ports Authority and Border Management Authority to monitor any unlawful discharges of waste from the ship into the harbour. So far no instances of this have been confirmed.”

The stench from the ship was so severe on Monday that some companies sent their staff home early. DM