So, the story unfolds.....as mentioned in a previous blog, it was amazing how quickly gangbusters turned mythbusters in Vietnam....and yep, prediction correct, independent footage inevitably followed. Well if ALEC could get footage, it wasnt going to be too hard for Animals Australia to get footage also. Wonder if the Dept of Ag is enjoying the viewing that is too graphic for the Australian public....ie bashing Australian cattle to death in tinpot Vietnamese abattoirs.
Vietnam is leaking like a sieve in all directions - has been for ages. Leaking (haemorrhaging?) locally, and into other countries (Cambodia, China etc). The exporters and the farmers know the rules. The rules have been broken. Australian cattle are suffering......extreme measures are necessary. Local cattle prices are good, northern cattle are being trucked south at the moment...and we are at the start of the dry season. Export to Vietnam must stop till this is fixed....period.
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What a contrast to Australia: New Zealand's reputation is too important to allow the export of live sheep for slaughter, say NZ farming industry leaders.
Would be nice to think they were squeaky clean but thats perhaps not entirely the case. The NZ government have been accused of a dodgy deal with a previous Saudi Live Exporter. From 1989 until 2003, Al Khalaf exported about five million live sheep for slaughter into the Middle East from New Zealand, until the practice was stopped after 4000 sheep died aboard the Cormo Express. He has now apparently been compensated to the tune of $6 mill. No wonder the NZ farmers are outraged....they support the decision not to export live but, quite rightly, are not very happy when a Saudi millionaire, at the very heart of their ban (and financial hardship at the time) gets a nice compo payout. But then.....any rational Australian would know the same thing....there is only one clear winner in LE and that is the exporters!!! Forget the emotions, forget even for a moment, the animal welfare issues and just check out this link and look at the economics...chilled meat export is definitely a no-brainer and should always be the aim.
Check the DA reports for high mortality voyages....what happened to Report 51? Well its pretty clear which voyage this was: the Ocean Drover engine debacle in Jan-Feb 2014 (fits right in time-wise between Reports 50 and 52). Wellard self-reported the incident in media releases....so what's the delay in the investigation report? Is it DA inefficiency (possibly - could explain why when one clicks on Report 53 PDF, Report 54 PDF is downloaded instead!)? Or is it something unpalatable which industry and DA hope can just be slipped under the carpet without notice? No chance....we are continuing to watch and wait!
Real Aussie Farmers have explained that the comment "HEAT STRESS IS CONSTANTLY CLAIMING THE LIVES OF ANIMALS ON LIVE EXPORT VESSELS AS THEY CROSS HEMISPHERES ENROUTE TO THEIR DESTINATION PORTS" is just a myth, Myth Number 3 to be precise!
Very nice to know that all the work by the industry has been done on a nonsense topic. All those MLA reports clearly rubbish. The Heat stress Risk Assessment for voyages is probably unnecessary and clearly both industry and DA vets keep getting it wrong. As for the scientific papers on the topic.....obviously fatally flawed peer review processes. So, why do those animals pant when the temperature gets a bit hot and sticky? It's obviously just the excitement of being on a nice cruise with their mates. And sometimes the excitement is just all too much for them.....must have been a great party on the Bader when over 4000 died on an afternoon .....of excitement. Live animal exporter Wellard has been accused of hiring private investigators to gather damaging information about its competitor’s operations in Vietnam.
South East Asian Livestock Services claims rival Wellard asked the investigators — one of whom is a former senior WA police officer — to collect evidence of animal cruelty at its Vietnamese feedlots to hurt its business. Wellard deny it....but hey, if it is true Wellard.....go for it. We need all the help we can get to expose poor animal welfare in this closed industry. Of course, it might be worth getting a really top ex-cop.....think we might know one that could help!!! The Australian live export industry claims that Australia is the only country which imposes significant animal welfare requirements in regard to their animals while they are in other countries (ie ESCAS).
NOT NOW IT DOESNT! An EU court has found that EU animal welfare legislation must still be complied with even after animals which are being exported have left the EU. NOTE: that is, EU legislation not third world-achievable OIE recommendations!! The legislation also states that the transport of animals over long journeys should be limited as far as possible! Well we are definitely not the world-leaders now. Numerous stock agencies in Victoria, SA, Tas and NSW - many of them privately owned - are reportedly caught up in a financial dilemma following the collapse of a live export heifer order arranged for China.
Well, no sympathy. They were happy to play a high risk game for high financial stakes. And high risk is just that....there is a reason that insurance does not cover these agents. Exporters of live animals have a choice. The animals themselves do not. We all knew ESCAS was flawed with non-independent auditors, auditors not trained in animal welfare, the vast majority of breaches found by Animals Australia (a not for profit charity) etc etc. However, despite all the flaws evident on analysis of the ESCAS Review, no-one anticipated that we would be opt to wind it back: reduced auditing and non-independent risk based assessments.
May as well just let the overseas facilities assess themselves (they can always aim for those oh-so-third 'world'-achievable OIE 'standards'). Much easier for the exporters. And lets face it, the government will still get its independent audits done at no cost by Animals Australia...and take no action, as per usual. Farcical. So, what about being transparent precludes action in Vietnam? If this industry was serious about welfare, they would be voluntarily suspending trade to Vietnam until the problems are sorted. Instead, they suggest that as the problem is "not universal" ....its not necessary. The fact that >180000 cattle were flogged off there last year and that Jan has just set a new monthly record (37500) apparently has nothing to do with it.
Ms Penfold commented that "a number of facilities have been suspended". Exactly what number? How many of the 89 "ESCAS" abattoirs has problems? As RSPCA Australia's chief scientist Bidda Jones stated so aptly: "If abuse is commonplace in non-approved facilities, it's ludicrous to suggest that the industry has been able to stamp it out in approved abattoirs; it takes far more than an occasional audit and a voluntary training course to permanently change entrenched practices." |
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