The European Parliament adopted a non-legislative resolution on 12 December 2012 stating that where animals are slaughtered, they should, ‘as a principle’, be slaughtered as close to where they were produced as possible.
It calls for the EC to promote local processing where possible and says that EU hygiene legislation, while ensuring the highest level of protection for consumers, should not unnecessarily hamper the development of mobile or small-scale regional slaughter and processing facilities. The resolution’s rapporteur, Janusz Wojciechowski, commented: "We should do everything in our power to reduce their suffering. Our call for measures to cut transport times for animals, including a concrete step towards setting an eight-hour limit for transport of animals for slaughter, proves that we do care for their wellbeing." If only Australia were so enlightened.
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Recent footage broadcast on the ABC’s 7.30 Report showing Australian cattle being treated cruelly in an Israeli abattoir has re-ignited debate about whether live export can ever be humane.
We've issued a media release with more details. Head to our media page for more. An Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported this comment yesterday after an undercover investigation by an Israeli journalist revealed systemic animal abuse in an ESCAS- approved abattoir that processes Australian cattle.
'Exposure of abuse is added proof that the protection of animal rights shouldn't be left in the hands of the Agriculture Ministry,' says Israel's Environmental Protection Minister. Perhaps the Minister was speaking for Australia also as DAFF, in its self-described role as "independent regulator", continues to insist the ESCAS system is working. One of the arguments espoused for live export of cattle to Indonesia is that Australian beef is essential for the protein nutrition of our poorer neighbours. We now learn that $8 million worth of frozen beef has been stranded at Jakarta's main airport for more than three months owing to a dispute over quotas of export beef.
Indonesia is obviously less concerned by its population's nutrition than the caring pro-export lobby in Australia. Minister for Agriculture Joe Ludwig says that continued erratic incidents were causing exporters both within Australia and in other countries to view Indonesia as an unreliable place to do business. 20 000 Australian sheep, shuttled from country to country are now all dead. The sheep were rejected from Bahrain and Kuwait, sent to Pakistan and feedlotted under apparently sub-optimal conditions. Approximately 9000 were subject to an initial brutal cull caught on video footage. That cull was halted by a Pakistani court injunction. The remaining 11000 sheep were to have been slaughtered at a Pakistani abattoir after being cleared of major infectious diseases by Pirbright Institute in the UK. However, Sindh authorities ignored the ruling, excluded the importer and Wellard staff and culled the remainder anyway. The killing was unsupervised and it is assumed that the second cull was no less brutal than the first.
The incident comes at a time when “protection” of exported Australian animals is supposedly the best it has ever been. This incident has emphatically highlighted the fact that nothing can protect Australian animals once they leave Australia. PK Livestock and Meat Company, the company that imported Australian sheep from the "Ocean Drover" when it was rejected from Bahrain are major chilled meat exporters in the Gulf region. The company claims that "Using Australian technology, our beef and mutton plants are equipped with the most up to date systems available. PK is highly regarded as being one of the leading exporters of Halal meat from Pakistan. Our main customers are from the Gulf region and include such countries as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain."
So, Australia export their live sheep to the Middle East but neighbouring Muslim countries, using Australian technology, an Australian director and now, potentially, Australian sheep, export chilled meat. Interesting....so much for the argument against chilled Australian meat to the Middle East! At least 10,000 Australian sheep shuttled from pillar to post around the Middle East before being sent to an ESCAS facility in Pakistan have been brutally slaughtered. Pakistani newspapers report animals being stabbed and clubbed to death with some buried alive. The Karachi-based PK Meat and Food Company were apparently powerless to stop the seizure and brutal killing at the hands of the Pakistani authorities although a court order has temporarily halted the killing. These sheep appear to have been little more than political pawns at all stages of this saga.
The government's Memoranda of Understanding and ESCAS have proved worthless in protecting these sheep. The whole disaster reflects the fact that there is nothing Australia can do to provide adequate protection for Australian animals once they board an export ship. The latest episode comes only 14 months after the Four Corners Report on Indonesia, 8 months since Animals Australia revealed the failure of the ESCAS to protect Australian animals in Indonesia and in the same month as revelations of further failure of the ESCAS in Kuwait. How many more examples of extreme animal cruelty need to occur before we put a halt to the live export trade? After Animals Australia exposed yet another problem with ESCAS, filming Australian sheep being brutally slaughtered in Kuwait's Al Rai marketplace rather than an accredited facility, Phillip Glyde, from DAFF, had this to say "Having these independent reports from third parties such as Animal Australia is one of the ways in which we make sure that the system is actually working"........or not!
No doubt the government welcomes a free "charitable" audit given that they are providing $5.0 million taxpayer dollars over two years to the Approved Supply Chain Improvements Program. The story of the rejected shipment of Australian sheep on the Ocean Drover continues to unfold. Pakistan has been confirmed as the destination for the Australian sheep. It would also appear that DAFF are trying to distract from the failed Memoranda of Understanding by saying that ‘diverting’ to Karachi has always been part of the risk assessment protocol produced by the exporter as a condition of the export permit, a most unlikely possibility.
This incident underlines the fundamentally flawed regulatory framework that the Government has constructed for live export. As Wellard (the exporter) has been at pains to emphasise, as soon as the sheep are on the ship they belong to the importer. It is naïve to suggest that Australian legislation could or would be applied to an importer in a foreign country. Equally how could an Australian court hold an exporter responsible for cruelty to animals which belong to sometime else in a foreign country? The ESCAS system has been sold to the Australian public as some sort of guarantee of animal welfare standards. It is not. It is yet another cynical exercise in deception. Yesterday, VALE reported on the saga of sheep from two Australian ships being rejected in the Middle East despite the fact that Australia has Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with governments in the Middle East to ensure that this couldn't happen again. One of those ships, the Al Shuwaikh is apparently unloading in Kuwait.
VALE has heard unconfirmed reports that the other ship, the Ocean Drover, has been rerouted with its cargo of rejected sheep to Pakistan. If Pakistan is the new destination, there is the immediate question of whether the exporter has received written confirmation from DAFF that it has accepted a change to all the other necessary documentation, including the export permit. We know from the voyage of the Hereford Express in November 2008 that such changes are often approved by DAFF on a "nod and a wink" basis - and we would say this is illegal. It will be interesting to see all the relevant documents relating to this voyage in due course. Of course VALE’s main concern, if Pakistan is the new destination of the rejected sheep, is the standard of animal welfare likely to prevail at this destination. Wellard, the exporter has released a statement saying that sheep were being discharged into an ESCAS compliant supply chain which meets OIE standards, “ensuring Australian and international animal welfare standards are adhered to”. It seems almost impossible to believe that the assurance protocols designed to ensure animal welfare during unloading, transport and slaughter have been put in place and approved in such a short space of time. This is particularly so given the large number of sheep involved and that the DAFF website indicates that Pakistan has never before imported Australian sheep. These animals have been on board ship for 33 days travelling from the southern winter to the extreme heat and humidity of the northern summer, shuttled from port to port. Whilst Wellard have stated that the mortality limit has not been exceeded it must be remembered that only 22000 sheep have been left on the ship. Deaths in this group of sheep may not have overly influenced the overall mortality which will be a calculated percentage of the initial 70000 or so sheep. What is clear to VALE is that the much trumpeted MoU with Bahrain, which was supposed to allow unloading of sheep regardless of their health status, has been completely ineffective. |
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