Animals Australia says livestock face additional cruelties during this festival when Muslims throughout the Middle East purchase sheep for sacrifice.

Footage obtained in Egypt of Australian sheep sales in the lead up to the Eid prevented further sheep exports into Egypt last year.

Animals Australia executive director, Glenys Oogjes, says the Festival of Sacrifice is "the worst time of the year in the Middle East for animals".

"Our live exporters know it – yet they don't warn farmers, they deliberately keep the truth from them because they know that most farmers would refuse to send their animals to such a fate," she claimed.

"I know that times are tough for farmers especially with the ongoing drought.

"But Animals Australia believes that if animals were being abused like this at a local stockyard that regardless of any extra money on offer, farmers would be outraged and refuse to supply their animals to such treatment.

"We are appealing to farmers to reconsider exporting their animals not only to protect their animals from abuse, but so that the right message is conveyed to the region – that animals and their welfare do matter to Australian farmers and they don’t approve of their livestock being treated this way."