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OCT 31, 2026 AT 12:00 AM GMT-0400
LIVE ANIMAL TRANSPORT
They can’t ask for anything, so we think of everything
Temperature, food, water, rest, the size of the crate and the calm of the handler. A live animal needs all of it and can ask for none of it. National plans every one of those details before the journey begins, then chooses the route for the animal’s welfare first, whether that’s road, air or dedicated charter.
Eyebrow Label
WHO we serve
The shippers who cargo feels every mile of the journey
A live animal can’t absorb a delay or a mishandling the way freight can. The organizations that move them carry a responsibility measured in welfare, and the cost of getting it wrong is never only financial.
- The animals have to leave before the window closes: Rescue groups, relief agencies and government teams evacuating animals from disaster or conflict zones. Conditions are worsening, the coordination is urgent, and how the move is run decides how the animals fare.
- One animal can represent years of work: Zoos, aquariums and conservation programs relocating breeding or endangered animals. A single animal can be irreplaceable, and stress or a handling error in transit can set a program back years.
- The animal’s condition is its value: Livestock and equine breeders moving high-value or breeding stock. An animal that arrives stressed, injured or unwell is a welfare failure and a direct loss at once, on an asset that can’t be swapped out.
- The movement is large, official and under scrutiny: Government operations and relocation programs coordinating animals at scale. Welfare regulators, customs and receiving authorities all have to be satisfied, and the whole operation answers for every animal in it.
why national air cargo
Everything about the move is built around the animal
Live animal transport works only when the animal’s welfare drives every decision, from the crate it travels in, to the route it travels on, to the hands that receive it. That principle is what National builds each movement around.
Welfare drives the plan
Crate and enclosure standards, feeding, hydration and rest scheduled to the journey, careful loading and handling, all held to IATA Live Animals Regulations. The animal’s comfort and safety shape the plan from the first decision. The regulations make sure nothing slips.
The right mode for the animal and the movement
The mode is chosen for the animal’s welfare first. Climate-aware trucking carries domestic and regional moves. Airfreight takes over when distance or a health window rules out the road. Dedicated charter through National Airlines steps in when a movement is large, urgent or bound for somewhere with one short runway, with aircraft configured for the animals aboard.
Proven where the conditions are worst
Disaster zones, conflict areas, sites with almost no infrastructure. National has coordinated animal movements where ordinary logistics can’t reach, working alongside vets, handlers and receiving teams from pickup to final delivery. Local people run the hard last mile, wherever it is.
Our Capabilities
Coordinated care, from the crate to the destination
Moving an animal safely takes coordinated capability at every stage. National Air Cargo runs each one to the standard live cargo demands.
Welfare-led handling
Crate and enclosure standards, feeding, hydration and rest planned to the route, and careful loading and unloading, all under IATA Live Animals Regulations.
Live animal charter
Dedicated aircraft through National Airlines and the global charter network, configured for the species and the scale, from widebody movements to smaller lift for remote or urgent missions.
Climate-aware transport
Temperature and environment managed across every leg, so animals travel in conditions suited to them rather than to the freight around them.
Humanitarian and rescue coordination
Rapid, multi-agency coordination for evacuations and large-scale rescue, including movement into and out of disaster zones and areas with limited infrastructure.
Health documentation and compliance
Health certificates, welfare and transport regulations, customs, and Importer and Exporter of Record, handled so an animal isn’t held at a border it’s cleared to cross.
Door-to-door coordination
Pickup from farms, shelters and facilities, coordination with veterinarians and handlers, and delivery to sanctuaries, facilities and receiving teams. One team owns the animal’s whole journey.
MIssion Highlights
Counted in animals, not shipments
Every movement comes down to one number, and it’s the number that arrived healthy. Long routes, hard conditions, tight health windows, and still every animal accounted for and well. That’s the only scoreboard this work has.
CERTIFICATIONS & COMPLIANCE
The standards that keep animals moving safely and legally
Live animals cross welfare and border regulations at every step. An animal can be held or turned back if the handling or the paperwork falls short. National carries the standards that keep it moving.
They leave in our care. They arrive in it too.
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