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A few days ago, David Littleproud was choking back the tears and saying that “this is bullshit”. Tonight, he is giving the exporters another chance….ANOTHER chance. Hasn't Graeme Daws has already had his chance….? In 2003, Mr Daws was Managing Director of live export company RETWA (Rural Export and Trading (WA) Pty Ltd) when its licence was suspended by the Dept due to four high mortality shipments. During this suspension Mr Daws was able to continue to export animals under an export licence held by...yep you guessed it... Emanuel Exports Pty Ltd, a loophole since closed by the Federal government.
(Source: Animals Australia website and Minister of AFF Media Release). Well, as per usual, when it comes to animal welfare, it seems its up to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). News just in is that AMSA wont let the Awassi sail…..well not unless it is satisfied…. Thank you AMSA….the maritime profession is definitely leading the way in Australian animal welfare today!!!
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So good that it took someone from a country not known for its meticulous animal welfare standards, a country usually described as a third world county, to risk his life and lose his career to expose to Australia, and the world, what this well-touted industry line, from this first world country, really means.
Tonight we know. VALE wishes to thank Faisal Ullah for his courage, compassion and sacrifice. For caring and not turning a blind-eye... And to thank (again) both Animals Australia and 60 Minutes. It only takes one dog with heat stress in a locked hot car for a cruelty prosecution...whether the dog lives or dies. Yet exporters are allowed to load 60000-100000 sheep on a ship and expose them to heat stress, summer after Middle Eastern summer, and its fine....
VALE has always maintained that a major failing of the law relating to live export (unlike Australia's domestic law) is that it takes no account of the suffering of the animals involved. It only counts dead bodies. And even then, there is no requirement for the government to prosecute or even investigate. Reporting of a high mortality event is mandatory....investigation by the government is discretionary. See the government sanctioned, legal cruelty of the Australian live export trade...tonight....60 Minutes. See preview “My concern is that the vessel may have been too heavily stocked on previous voyages,” wrote Narelle Clegg, an assistant secretary in the Ag Department’s Exports Division.
Oh really? Your Department's investigation report into this voyage assures the world that the vessel was stocked according to ASEL specifications....ie the usual 0.31 square metres for a 47 kg sheep..... This was the same Department that allowed the downgrading of the actual mortality numbers on this exporters previous horror voyage....and VALE has YOUR letter telling us why the downgraded figures are to this day, still considered OK on the official Federal parliamentary report.... This is what it is like Ms Clegg.....the Department has condoned this stocking rate since the start of trade, .....the Department has colluded with exporters and yes, the Department is complicit in all this. No surprise that the Minister didnt want to be interviewed by Liam Bartlett. VALE Spokesperson Dr Sue Foster spoke extensively on ABC News Mornings 6.4.18 with Joe O'Brien. Sue laid out the hard scientific facts about live export....published scientific facts .....about heat stress on live export voyages.
See the interview (go to the 32 minute mark). The space allowance for sheep on a live export ship has not changed since 1983. Thats right... unchanged for 35 years despite the industry and government telling us they are improving animal welfare.
By law, a 47kg adult merino sheep on a ship gets 0.308 square metres! Industry are falling over themselves to offer a generous increase of 10-15% ie 0.34-0.35 square metres. Come on guys.....the public arent stupid. When they see that footage, they are going to know that it will matter not whether a sheep gets 0.31 square metres or 0.35 square metres....they still wont be able to get to food or water and they still wont be able to lie down....let alone cope with heat stress. VALE wants to thank the Minister of Agriculture for his response to the footage of live export voyages. We do however have comments....see our media page....
Exporters are one thing....regulators quite another. The regulators of this trade, the Department of Agriculture, have known of this for 40 years...and they have crucified every veterinary whistleblower from Dr Roger Meischke (1978) through to Dr Lynn Simpson (2012). If David Littleproud is serious..... In July 2016, it was the Al Messilah. In August 2017, it was the Awassi Express. Both carrying sheep from Fremantle winter to the Middle East summer. Both voyages with discrepant numbers. Both voyages catastrophic due to heat stress: 3.76-3.79% on the Awassi, 2.51-4.36% on the Al Messilah (depending on which government version is chosen). The cause: extreme temperatures and humidity…what a surprise.
The Department of Ag's investigation report for the Awassi Express makes sobering reading. Sheep experienced moderate to severe heat stress from Day 5 to Day 21 (16 relentless days). The graphs show that wet bulb temperatures were essentially >31ºC from Day 14 to Day 20 and on Day 18 (ie after 13 days of continuous heat stress), the wet bulb temperature reached a shocking 37ºC. The report states “individual animals identified as heat affected or bogged were removed into alleyways near ventilators”. Yep that's right, animals struggling to survive in critical conditions then had to deal with getting bogged. The report even describes why this happens. But sure, we care about animal welfare. No amount of space can save animals on these ships in the extreme conditions of the Middle East, conditions that are already worsening with climate change. The only thing that would save them is reverse cycle air-conditioning (and that’s certainly not going to happen). These voyages to the ME summer have to stop…see VALE’s submission to ASEL. After reading the most recent round of high mortality investigation reports posted on the Department of Ag (DAWR) website, it is clear that serious analysis of voyage reports is not being undertaken by the Department.
The Department's heat stress thresholds for sheep and cattle have remained unchanged since 2006 despite industry funded scientific studies that show that they are way too high. When the fundamental basis for analysis is flawed, it is no wonder the Department cant analyse likelihood of risk or assess the extreme suffering that occurs on voyages to the ME summer... VALE has written to the Chief Veterinary Officer. See: Letter to CVO See: High Mortality Voyage Report 69 VALE's submission to Stage 1 of the ASEL Review was simple....fix 5 things:
We insisted that voyages to the ME summer must cease if the next version of ASEL is to be credible in its attempts to address animal welfare. See: VALE Submission |
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