Animal rights activists will press on with their campaign to halt South Africa’s fledgling exports of live sheep for slaughter in the Middle East.

The National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) lost a court ­battle late last month to prevent an imminent cargo departing.

The organisation opposes the conditions suffered by animals being transported by ship to the Middle East, and the method of slaughter upon arrival, claiming both are cruel and barbaric.