Cape Town Hit With 'Worst Stench in My Life'

The smell that took over Cape Town was so putrid and far-reaching that authorities in the South African city launched an investigation into its source on Monday. It turns out it wasn't a sewage facility leak but rather an odor emanating from a ship docked in the harbor that held 19,000 live cattle that were on their way from Brazil to Iraq, reports the AP. The 623-foot-long Al Kuwait had stopped there on Sunday in order to load feed for the cattle and was due to leave later Tuesday, reports Reuters. Standout quotes:

• A 29-year-old resident tells the BBC: "It was the worst stench I have ever come across in my life. It ruined my day because even when I was indoors, every time the [elevator] opened, the smell spilled over into the office and it stuck in the back of my throat like a bad aftertaste."
• From the National Council of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which boarded the ship to inspect: "This smell is indicative of the awful conditions the animals endure, having already spent 2½ weeks onboard, with a build-up of feces and ammonia. The stench onboard is unimaginable, yet the animals face this every single day."
• One of those inspectors tells Reuters: "The feces that the cattle were standing is already basically up to the top of their hooves in some pens."

(More smell stories.)