BARBARIC SHEEP DEATHS IN PAKISTAN

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?