VALE monitored livestock being loaded at Fremantle Port for a number of years (until they banned public access to stop us). We observed animals on the truck that met ASEL rejection criteria and some that would have been not "fit-to-load" under any code. We saw sheep with scabby mouth heading to the ill-fated Ocean Drover voyage (rejection for scabby mouth in Bahrain resulted in the brutal slaughter of 22000 sheep in Pakistan). We had no way of knowing whether these "reject" animals were rejected after inspection at the Port but the number of sheep leaving on the reject trucks was quite low. We documented our concerns in a submission to the Fremantle Port Review.
Well now we have the other side of the story. Ex live-ex veterinarian Dr Lynn Simpson has confirmed that "rejects" were not always rejected at port. She details the frustrations and difficulties that the "rejects" caused shipboard veterinarians, knowing that these animals should never have made it onto the boat. This isnt an overseas issue. These non-rejected "rejects" were animals that should have had protection under Australian law ie ASEL.
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ESCAS might afford some protection for slaughter cattle but Australian breeding animals are left to fend for themselves once exported. Their fates are highly variable and some can endure shocking conditions as reported by veterinary technician Debbie Clarke in 2012.
Ex live-ex veterinarian, Dr Lynn Simpson, has also highlighted the plight of Australian breeding animals...and it is very clear that their dollar value does not protect them from end-destination cruelty. ESCAS is far from the be-all and end-all we are told it is...but there needs to be some type of ESCAS with end destination auditing and monitoring for our exported breeders. 121 lambs have reportedly died from heat stress on a flight from Ireland to Singapore. The lambs were part of a 1,700-strong flock bound for the Hari Raya Haji festival, also known as EID. Australia provided another 1800 sheep.
This is not the first time that sheep have died due while in transit to the festival. In 2014, over 170 sheep imported from Australia died mid-flight, also due to heat stress. And when they do arrive safely....it is to end up with unstunned slaughter. As industry and government fall over each other to cover up the welfare and shipping deficiencies in the live ex trade, the maritime press has not been quite so kind.
Splash 24/7 has chosen to run a number of articles written by ex-shipboard vet Dr Lynn Simpson, who in a first, also took front page on the cover of Maritime CEO...a position that has previously been reserved for shipowners. Meanwhile The Maritime Executive continues to explore the lesser known issues of poor ship design (Feces-falls-and-flooding and Live-Export designing ships for animals), difficulties in regulating foreign-flagged livestock carriers, high mortality voyages, assessment of the fleet and some of the peer-reviewed scientific articles on livestock mortality. If poor profits dont end the trade, could the maritime industry signal its death knell? Yep, this was the reason given behind Elders announcing they were pulling out of long haul live export. Meanwhile Wellard share price languishes (0.26 AUD currently) after a dismal performance in their first year.... and Mauro Balzarini quits Australia (see the Financial Review article titled "Perth says Good Riddance to Wellard's Mauro Balzarini").
Hopefully commerce will achieve what animal advocacy hasnt! An article in Stock & Land describes beef producers' discontent with the performance of the live exporters. They are obviously worried about damaging their brand. Slow learners and no concern for the animals, of course.
Yet another experienced live export veterinarian has gone public with concerns about shipping design. Industry scion Dr Peter Arnold, admits that little has changed in ship design and states that "our modern ships [are] being designed for convenience and not the cargo."
Dr Arnold continues "There are literally hundreds of design features on ships that could easily be fixed by designers and engineers to suit the animal first and foremost and still fit into marine design and safety." So, over 50 years to get it right and we don't. The reason seems to come down to the industry saying quoted by Arnold: “If the animals were worth their weight in gold, they would all arrive safely.” Yep, thats right, sadly it is about profit and not animal welfare. So much for those modern ships eh. Al Messilah is hardly state of the art, built in 1980, converted from a car carrier in 1995 and 100% reliant on mechanical air supply as it is solid sided. It sailed from Fremantle yesterday with sheep conditioned to a miserable Southern hemisphere Winter heading into the height of a Middle Eastern summer….. And check out the Plimsoll line - the marking on a ship's side showing the limit of legal submersion when loaded with cargo under various sea conditions. This red line (in between all the rust and the marks) disappears as it goes to the bow. Under Marine Orders 43, the trim of the ship has to allow drainage of the livestock pens. This ship appears lower (down) at the bow (front) but would likely drain from the the stern (back). Lets hope no pipes burst and flood the sheep pens as they wont be able to drain. The resulting increase in humidity could result in a fatal humidity spike, especially as the livestock onboard will be close to their physiological limits at this time of year with the existing predicted weather conditions once past the equator. One wonders how often the trim is checked on these ships once they are loaded and before they sail. This one certainly sailed an hour after this photo was taken with the angle of the Plimsoll line unchanged. The maritime fraternity are increasingly interested in the issues of live export. It seems, that apart from recognising the unmistakable odour of livestock carriers on the high seas, the LE trade has been as much a mystery to them as it has been to animal welfare advocates, farmers, veterinarians and the Australian public.
This week Maritime Executive published an interview with VALE regarding an investigative report and analysis of the extreme heat stress mortality event on the Bader III (Voyage 46). Like many such events, it has taken time to investigate: government investigation reports, then FOI requests, then the correspondence with the government etc mean that any such investigations drag out over years. Despite careful analysis and persistence to try and ascertain what really happened on that voyage, we will never know as the government are certainly not telling us. However, we can guess what it was like with 4000 sheep dying of heat stress as co-incidentally, another maritime media, Splash published a very detailed and distressing description of "livestock cooked at sea" from experienced live export veterinarian, Lynn Simpson. The Indonesian government has just issued permits for Indian buffalo meat. Dr Ross Ainsworth says that this will reduce the live cattle number to 300000/year from 2017. Oh really? How come? All that story that they needed meat from the wet markets ....to make bakso balls etc...and provide an essential protein source to poor malnourished neighbours.....(as per Back 2011).
Yeah well it turns out that the main destination of this frozen product will be the infamous bakso ball market....which suddenly is quite comfortable using frozen product, albeit not from Australia....perhaps we could have been looking at Indonesia differently (as per Norris 2011). The good thing for our compassionate Senator...and the Indonesians....is that those poor Indonesians will now be getting a cheap convenient protein source.... Reference: Hansard: WEDNESDAY, 10 AUGUST 2011 CANBERRA. Senator BACK: The fact is that the Australian live export industry has supplied protein to about 68 million Indonesians. Most of that has now been cut off; it has certainly not been replaced. The reality is that they simply cannot afford to buy our boxed meat and that is the tragedy.... Mr Norris: I am not sure of the proposition that history is a good guide. We are seeing enormous socioeconomic and demographic change in south-east Asia. We are seeing rising incomes. We are seeing a concomitant demand for beef, and that will tap up into the higher end of the market. I think we could hamstring ourselves badly if we just simply looked to the past and not the future. Hansard: WEDNESDAY, 10 AUGUST 2011 CANBERRA. |
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