After years of being denied access to live export ships, Albany ABC reporter Mark Bennett is suddenly granted access onto a ship. Conveniently, this is in January, one of the coolest months of export with the best, summer-acclimatised sheep. (Note that they didn't invite him in September, October or May...well done Livestock Collective!)
VALE watched with keen interests as we thought we could do a fact check on the report. Here is Landline Fact Check Installment 1. 1. A voyage of 14 days: Sorry Mark, but the Al Messilah left Fremantle on 11 January and arrived in Shuwaikh Port on 25 January. So, yes, 14 days, not including the loading and the unloading of the sheep. BUT the sheep that were unloaded in Muscat on 3 February would have been the first sheep on board in Fremantle (10-11 January) so they would have been on board 23-24 days, 10 days longer than Mark's twice stated 14 days. And..if the ABC had checked, they would have found that from Jan 2013 to Dec 2022, there were only two trips from Freo to Kuwait achieved in 14 days (and none shorter than this). Thus, this became the third shortest trip since Jan 2013. Notably all 3 14 day journeys were to the Northern Hemisphere winter (leaving Fremantle on 7.12.2019 and 3.3.2021). 2. The real clanger is at the 24:46 minute mark showing sheep going into bare floored pens: "This is where the animals will eat, defaecate and sleep on a bed of sawdust". Mark, we aren't sure where you were looking but sheep in routine pens are not on sawdust as the loading footage clearly showed. The only sawdust will have been in the hospital pens (where Dr Reben fell over), the cattle pens, and we also saw some where the necropsies were being done. So a preliminary check shows that the ABC did not check their facts. We will trickle feed our long list of observations over the next few days.
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The livestock carrier Nine Eagle suffered a major engine failure in Darwin, on May 15, while loaded with approximately 1,800 cattle. The MV Nine Eagle, built in 2006, is a converted general cargo ship (industry so often claims purpose built vessels...!) currently flagged by Panama. The vessel was headed to Indonesia on charter for Perth-based company Livestock Shipping Services. After 6 days on board and with no way of cleaning out the faeces, cattle were finally unloaded on May 21 and transported to a pre-export quarantine facility south of Darwin.
How very interesting...farmers demanded Bali tourists dispose of their thongs after their holiday due to foot and mouth disease risk, yet a cattle ship which only left Indonesia on 6th May is allowed to have animals unloaded from a potentially contaminated ship. Possibly a little more risk than tourist thongs but not a murmur from industry.....lets face it, its live ex and it trumps any Australian biosecurity. And ultimately, it yet again shows the monumental risky nature of live ex...these cattle were lucky the ship broke down in port and not on the open ocean. For full story see: https://www.marinelink.com/news/cattle-offloaded-disable-livestock-505279 Livestock producers and shippers are constantly telling us they follow world's best practice because they care so much about animal welfare. So what happens when they arent made to follow those standards? Surely they care so much they would follow those standards anyway? Seemingly not.
In a very revealing interview with the WA Chief Vet Michelle Rodin, it has emerged that the cattle sent from Darwin to Broome, a 5 day journey (ie longer than some export voyages to Indonesia) do not fall under ASEL. So producers and shippers loaded up whatever they wanted to - reportedly including late pregnant animals, horned animals etc...with who knows what space allowances, bedding or food. Outcome - 31 cattle already dead out of a shipment of 1200: 5 dying on the voyage, 18 dying shortly after arrival and the rest apparently post-cyclone (convenient?!). State shipping does not require that ASEL has to be followed so these really caring caring people who follow world's best practice, suddenly didnt care so much and just did what they wanted. What a great exercise in public trust.... and ..."story-telling". Hear the interview: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/nt-country-hour/nt-country-hour/102268140 30 April 2023 signals the end of cattle export from NZ. And in breaking news, Reuters reports that a Brazilian court has banned the export of live cattle from all the country's ports. Whilst the government may appeal the decision, it will follow court orders currently. The ruling revolved around animal sentience and animal welfare. If it is upheld, then NZ has finished, Brazil (a major player) has finished and Australia is at least set to phaseout the live sheep trade...all of which make global live export increasingly uncertain. It will also remove one of the key arguments of Australian cattle exporters ie namely that if Australia stops, the South Americans will just step in. This ruling could be a significant step in worldwide condemnation and cessation of this trade - and yes boxed meat should adequately fill the void.
SAFE in NZ reports that cattle awaiting the last live export voyage from New Zealand are being forced to live in mud with no shelter in pre-export quarantine. These sub-optimal conditions occur before the long and often difficult journey by sea, before they disappear into a welfare void on arrival.
As Australia negotiates its own ban on live sheep exports, the industry is trying to insist that things have changed, that regulations and their own initiatives have made a difference to welfare. It's just not the case - ASEL and ESCAS breaches by exporters continue on at the usual rate and suffering is inherent in the entire live export chain, whether from Australia or NZ. And interestingly, New Zealand sentiment against the Nationals new (and bumbling) commitment to reinstate live ex is very evident in the NZ media. See: SAFE For AnimalsDisturbing footage has emerged showing thousands of cattle in pre-export quarantine near Pleasant Point. TV interview https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2023/04/newshub-nation-national-mp-nicola-grigg-defends-controversial-live-animal-export-policy.html - Radio Interview https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-weekend-collective/politics-central/chris-luxon-national-party-leader-will-only-bring-back-live-animal-exports-under-strict-regulations/ Opinion article https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/300859849/national-is-no-friend-of-change-but-the-devil-is-in-the-detail Facebook thread https://www.facebook.com/1NewsNZ/posts/pfbid0pkGgMnpfovsW1T8ADHQURBcMNXH4fR6LLyUgjkHhTJwd76BdPqZ8bWyGxe8JiiXUl Twitter thread https://twitter.com/NewshubNationNZ/status/1649558514631602178 and https://twitter.com/Naly_D/status/1649571442512756736 Marine Link and Splash 24/7 report that sailors from abandoned Yangtze Fortune and Yangtze Harmony have now been repatriated from both Singapore and Australia. These ships carried Australian sheep repeatedly post the Awassi Express expose in 2018, even having industry/university research performed onboard despite both having repeated animal welfare incidents. The industry of course were claiming best shipping standards in the world, best animal welfare in the world, all problems fixed yadda yadda yadda. AMSA had moments of action but it wasnt till 2022 that AMSA finally moved and the Australian Federal Court seized Yangtze Fortune after the owner's refusal to make urgent repairs. Soar Harmony Shipping then abandoned Yangtze Harmony also
Late last year, the International Transport Worker's Federation Australian Inspectorate Coordinator, Ian Bray, said that the Yangtze Fortune was representative of a broader problem in the livestock shipping industry where crews go unpaid and ships operate on the precipice of insolvency. “We believe there is an epidemic of borderline insolvency amongst the operators of these livestock ships as they repeatedly feature among the worst cases in our inspections around Australia and internationally.” Do the vociferous farmers still trying to obstruct the phaseout not know or do they not care? Well anyone who lives in Fremantle would definitely know there was a live export ship loading. The stench in Fremantle CBD yesterday was very bad. Today no better and being carried much further inland (at least 5-6 km) with the northwesterly. There are critical ammonia levels set for workers - none for animals of course. Is the ammonia is on this ship ever checked?
Beef Central reports that a new report commissioned by research bodies LiveCorp and Meat & Livestock Australia, in association with Dairy Australia, outlines the value of the live dairy cattle export trade and the benefit it brings to different regions of southern Australia. The trade was worth $258 million in 2020-21, of which $180 million was retained by dairy farmers.
So with that amount of money, wouldnt you think that exporters and farmers would be proactive about animal welfare in this trade. VALE's peer-reviewed scientific paper analysing voyages to China (long haul voyages that are invariably NOT accompanied by a veterinarian) revealed the astounding magnitude of welfare issues for these valuable animals. Is the industry going to wait for a Pakistani seamen to film or are they going to respond to the problems clearly identified in this paper? With these margins it is time to be proactive not reactive. NOTE: One of the issues discovered in the VALE analysis (running low on food or running out of food on voyages to China) was likely a factor involved in the sinking of the Gulf Livestock 1 after it sailed through a typhoon rather than going around - a pretty extreme consequence of an issue that could have been averted. Sheep Central reports that Livestock Collective, a live export lobby group has claimed “Whilst we are not a lobbying group, we do exist to ensure everyone has access to real, transparent insights into the industry so that informed decisions can be made,” The claim was made in an email detailing how industry stakeholders could subscribe to support its activities.
Quote of the day in response to this comment from Dr Jed Goodfellow, Alliance for Animals policy director : “If it looks like a lobby group and quacks like a lobby group, it probably is a lobby group.” Dr Goodfellow said the Livestock Collective is effectively a lobby group for the live sheep export trade that’s trading off the good name and reputation of the broader Australian livestock sector. “Its origins can be traced back to Emanuel Exports. It created the Sheep Collective in the wake of the Awassi Express disaster as the company was facing criminal prosecution for animal cruelty – and still is – and the trade was embroiled in an existential crisis,” he said. VALE agrees with Dr Goodfellow “These are not the best origins for an organisation whose mission is to build the social licence of Australia’s livestock sector." During a 24-hour Middle East stopover last month, Agriculture Department Secretary Andrew Metcalfe and ambassador Melissa Kelly reportedly met officials from Kuwait’s food safety and agriculture affairs departments to tell them about the government’s policy to phase out live exports in the second term of a Labor administration. Now the Live Ex industry is bellyaching that they should have gone to the Trade Minister and even that the Kuwaiti government will reportedly register its concerns about a diplomatic gaffe.
How very interesting - one would assume that if that was the case, they would have been informed that by the food safety and agriculture affairs departments in Kuwait. How was it even possible to set up the meeting if it was such a diplomatic gaffe? An outsider could be blamed for thinking that once again the live ex industry is dictating to governments, in this case perhaps both Australia and Kuwait. No doubt they were most peturbed to hear that Mr Metcalfe said there was “quite significant interest” from government officials about the potential for chilled or frozen lamb meat to be exported to Kuwait instead of live sheep. Who would have thought....! |
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