In an interesting opinion piece, Dr Malcolm Caulfield analyses a recent attack by Mick Keogh of the Australian Farm Institute on the animal welfare group Animals Australia.
Dr Caulfield points out that Mr Keogh's comment that the “whole of life” responsibility for animals does not apply to livestock or animals traded between individuals in Australia (as a defence for live export) misses the point. In every Australian jurisdiction there are sophisticated animal welfare laws which impose considerable responsibilities on owners and those in charge of animals. It doesn’t matter whether the animals have been “traded” or not when the animals are in Australia, it is still illegal to treat them badly. The Australian public does not like cruelty to Australian animals, no matter where they are, thus the argument ultimately reflects very poorly on farmers in the public's eyes. In addition, the "inflammatory, defamatory, country versus city rhetoric" is also likely to alienate the Australian public, many of whom are consumers of Australian meat. As Dr Caulfield suggests, it is time for constructive comments all round...ie lets look for a win win win solution (win for farmers, win for animal welfare groups and most importantly, a win for the animals in question).
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With high mortality reports set to be released, it is only now in the public domain that a very high mortality voyage for the Bader was reported in 2013. It is believed the sheep, loaded in WA's winter, died of heat stress over a short period as summer temperatures in the Gulf soared. The mortality rate on the Bader has been reported as 5 per cent.
VALE's scientific review of Heat Stress in TVJ concluded that the heat stress risk assessment model was unlikely to be adequate to prevent heat stress in Australian animals travelling to a Middle East summer. The latest information reinforces that conclusion. If live export is to continue, this issue must be addressed. Australian animals should not be exposed to these conditions, which can be extreme, and have throughout the history of the trade been associated with "heat crashes". As discussed in WA Today, VALE is very concerned that the Bader was allowed to load in Fremantle on the weekend. Whilst loading the ship was delayed until evening on Sat 11th, the sheep were trucked from a feedlot 3h away (ie they were still exposed to extreme temperature during loading and transport to port). On Sun 12th, trucks left Kojunup for Fremantle in 44 degree heat even though temperatures had improved at the Port (well to the high 30s!). The extra cost of waiting 36-48 hours was clearly more important than sheep welfare!
That any stock should be handled and transported in this extreme heat is concerning. However, if the sheep were staying on land in Australia, they would have a chance to recover. To load these almost certainly heat-affected sheep onto a ship (with no chance of cooling on the upper decks until the ambient temperature cooled) , with high stocking density (0.308 metres squared for 47kg sheep) for a three week sea voyage should not be permitted. This additional stress before a voyage commences is unacceptable. How was this sanctioned by DAFF and DAFWA? And were the RSPCA present? An increase in Australian lamb supply throughout 2012, a reduction in lamb prices on the record highs seen in 2011, and a slowdown in Australian live sheep exports to the MENA region contributed to the growth in Australian lamb exports according to MLA.
Well what a surprise...and we all thought that they didnt have any refrigeration....! Perhaps the ACIL Tasman predictions were correct after all. Greg Brown, a fourth generation grazier in far north Queensland and a former boss of the Cattle Council of Australia says the operator at the centre of the scandal in Gaza should not be allowed to ship animals out of Australia until it's been cleared of wrongdoing.
Mr Brown says the latest revelation of animal cruelty overseas means the confidence of cattlemen in the current Exporter Supply Chain Assurance Scheme (ESCAS) "must be severely shaken". He says the entire beef cattle industry will be judged harshly as a result and leaders cannot afford to dismiss it as another isolated incident. "It's just unacceptable and these things shouldn't happen." Whilst the Australian Live Export Council took the unprecedented step of self reporting one of the Gaza videos from Animals Australia to the Department of Agriculture (see letter), the WA Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA) appears to be in denial. Bizarrely, it says it believes much of the footage released by animal welfare groups showing alleged mistreatment of Australian livestock overseas was a "constructed set-up" and part of a "vendetta" against livestock producers. "They [Animals Australia] always seem to be able to come up with some dreadful footage and I'm not so sure that a lot of this stuff is not set up."
Hard to imagine Lyn White or one of her contacts convincing an armed Middle Eastern man to kneecap a bull in front of her camera to show Australia the cruelty that exists to animals in the Middle East....let alone whip up the frenzy in an all male Gaza crowd to do a bit of chase, tie up and bull torture. But there we have it.....the clutching at straws promoted by PGA president Rob Gillam. More terrible footage of cruelty to Australian cattle, this time from Gaza. DAFF have been investigating this since November 5, 2013. There is no indication that the Department’s investigation will conclude any time soon and certainly no evidence that exporters will be sanctioned... well, they never are... despite repeated breaches.
If this trade is too continue then DAFF should require the exporters to demonstrate why their export licence or licences should not be suspended pending the finalisation of the investigations. Definitely for the sake of the animals. However, even if one only cares about the dollars, this should be done for public confidence....assuming there is any left. One of Australia's biggest cattlemen, Jack Burton has hit out at the Federal Government for failing to support investment in onshore processing to reduce the industry's dependence on live exports.
His Yeeda Pastoral Company, which has about 60,000 cattle on seven stations covering about 1.2 million hectares, is building a $20 million abattoir with capacity to process about 50,000 cattle a year between Broome and Derby. It is basically being built for his own cattle but Mr Burton said that "now that we have taken it this far it would only take about 25 per cent ($5 million) of the current spend to take the capacity out to 125,000 head and make it a regional facility." Mr Burton wants to expand the project with Government backing.....surely a win win all round. But no, the Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce won't even meet up with him. With the current diplomatic conflict between Australia and Indonesia over the "spying scandal", export of live cattle to Indonesia is again poised on a knife edge. Once again, the vulnerability of the live export trade has been exposed. Whilst the threats may well just be bluff and come to nothing, farmers still face worrying uncertainty. Live export for slaughter will always be an uncertain and volatile market. Its time to transition to the chilled meat trade and get behind the AACo abattoir in Darwin. Australian Animal Welfare Strategy (AAWS) grants worth $287,000 are now in limbo. AAWS was set up to develop long-term, comprehensive, national animal welfare policy on everything from livestock to companion animals and wildlife.
Last week, the Government removed AusAWAC, this week it freezes their funding. Logical of course...unless one happens to believe that long term improvement to animal welfare is in the best interests of the animals, owners, producers and governments! The Federal Department of Agriculture has eight grants for projects this financial year that have now been suspended. |
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