Loading cattle in Adelaide heat

7/1/2015

Soaring temperatures in early January were no impediment to trucking cattle to Adelaide Port and loading them onto the Ghena. Photographs on 2nd January (temp max 44 degrees) show drooling cattle which correspond to the MLA panting score of 2 or 2.5.

MLA recommendations for feedlot cattle are are follows: "For management purposes, if more than 10% of cattle are exhibiting panting scores of 2 or above, all handling and movement of the affected cattle should be stopped and only resumed when conditions become cooler and cattle have returned to normal".

But that's right, live export has a different respiratory character score to the MLA feedlot score...oh and they dont include drooling in their classification (McCarthy 2005). How very convenient....same cattle, same country but different purpose so different animal welfare guidelines. But just remember, we do really care about Australian livestock in Australia.

25 Comments

Ruth Weston

7/1/2015 10:02:35 am

Please Vets against live export - get really political and lobby the government to stop this loading in very high temperatures. You have the professional clout. Live export is bad enough without adding to the poor animals plight. This os immoral and disgusting.

VALE

7/1/2015 09:57:05 pm

Not for a lack of trying on our part Ruth. We've even written a peer-reviewed scientific article on heat stress for a reference paper and added "professional clout". You can lead a horse to water.....

Jill Parker

7/1/2015 10:08:53 am

Live export is an abomination and all Australians should be ashamed of our Government who condones this cruelty!

Helen Brister

7/1/2015 11:39:28 am

How low can you get . It appears this was done while everyone was watching the fires in SA and Vic. Of course they will come out and say it was allready organised.

Nuryanti Kurniawan

7/1/2015 02:25:26 pm

Please stop the torturing & show more compassion!!!

Mary Baker

7/1/2015 11:06:11 pm

This absolutely disgraceful and in humane,it's a blight on our government,please a stop to this disgrace now!!!!!

Sandra Hale

8/1/2015 04:31:28 am

Live export is an abomination. Shame, shame, shame Australian Government.

Deborah Beaton

8/1/2015 05:33:05 am

The horror of live export continues. I have had a hopeful Ban Live Export sticker on the back of my car for 30 years. Unfortunately with this current government the likelihood of any compassion is non existent.

Alison Penfold link

8/1/2015 06:08:36 am

The blog does not accurately account the loading of the Ghena on the 2nd of January. The concern as reported is on the basis of one animal seen drooling by an individual some distance away from loading. The facts are that there were three vets present at the registered premises and two at the port during loading. Temperature/heat stress monitoring was undertaken and heat stress was not evident. If it was, staff would have responded in the interests of welfare.The cattle were loaded in a timely fashion from trucks onto the boat, that is they were transported direct from the registered premise to the vessel and loaded quickly. The temperature monitoring indicated that the ship was 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the registered premises. With water and feed available, the ship was a better environment for the cattle on such a hot day.

VALE

9/1/2015 12:32:44 am

Panting score is regarded as a better measure of heat stress than respiratory rate alone. The MLA publication, Tips and Tools: Heat Load in Feedlot cattle indicates that respiratory rates over 40bpm can be described as panting with 40-70bpm being panting score 1 and respiratory rates of 70-120 as being panting scores 2-2.5. McCarthy (2005) reports that the live export industry classifies respiratory rates of 45-80 bpm in cattle as normal when the MLA classification would be panting with scores of 1-2.5.

Similarly with government definitions for government veterinarians. Heat stress threshold is defined as the maximum wet bulb temperature (WBT) at which body temperature can be controlled using available mechanisms of heat loss. Experiments carried out on instrumented cattle and sheep kept in climate-controlled, well ventilated rooms in which animals were individually penned with free access to feed and water, showed heat stress thresholds of about 27ºC in Merino sheep (Stockman et al 2011) and 26ºC in Bos taurus cattle (Beatty et al 2006). Government threshold: 30.6°C for adult Merinos and 30°C for adult Bos taurus.

As to Ms Penfold’s other points:
- under the Animal Welfare Act, in Australia, cruelty to one animal is an offence so it only needs one animal….but there are photos of a number of drooling animals
- on the open cattle decks, dry bulb temperature is at least equivalent to that of ambient temperature (measured in the shade); so if the conditions in the feedlot were 10-15 degrees higher than that aboard ship, then presumably no shade offered in the feedlot and that would put paid to any idea that this industry cares about animal welfare.

References
Beatty DT, Barnes A, Taylor E et al. Physiological responses of Bos taurus and Bos indicus cattle to prolonged, continuous heat and humidity. Journal of Animal Science 2006;84: 972-985
Caulfield MP, Cambridge H, Foster SF et al. Heat stress: A major contributor to poor animal welfare associated with long-haul live export voyages. The Veterinary Journal 2014;199:223-228
McCarthy M. Pilot Monitoring of Shipboard Environmental Conditions and Animal Performance. Meat and Livestock Australia, North Sydney, NSW, Australia 2005
MLA publication Tips & Tools: Heat load in feedlot cattle: http://www.mla.com.au/News-and-resources/Publication-details?pubid=2883
Stockman CA, Barnes AL, Maloney SK et al. Effect of prolonged exposure to continuous heat and humidity similar to long haul live export voyages in Merino wethers. Animal Production Science 2011;51:135-143

concerned member of the community

9/1/2015 04:43:03 am

Oh, touché VALE. Your response made my day. I am shocked that someone involved in the live export industry would publicly make such statements and assumptions when they can't possibly know what has been seen nor who saw it. Keep holding them to account and getting the FACTS out there. Keep unravelling the spin xxx

Amanda Allen

9/1/2015 10:38:52 pm

Alison Penfold I also witnessed the loading on this occasion , trucks were waiting out in full sun for 45 minutes plus

Naomi

8/1/2015 07:27:34 am

Thanks for documenting this, it broke my heart that it got no attention. I went out there & all I could do was stand at a distance & say sorry on behalf of mankind & hope that they somehow heard me.

Simon W

9/1/2015 10:49:44 pm

Hi Naomi,

if you witnessed this, I urge you to contact the RSPCA SA and submit a complaint. Others have tried, but because they did not actually witness it first hand, the RSPCA will do nothing based on their complaints.

Good luck and thanks for caring.

Gail Luitingh

8/1/2015 07:30:00 am

i have written to the Veterinary Surgeons Board of SA, I have had a reply informing me that the matter will be brought to the attention of the Board when it meets on the 5th February. I hope that LOTS of concerned people will email and express their disgust. Hopefully the sheer pressure from public concern creates a difference!

Jane MacArthur

9/1/2015 01:04:54 am

I wonder at how these profiteers and apologists for this barbaric trade sleep at nigh! I guess they just don't care about these poor creatures. I know (without being an expert) that the loading process in that searing heat would have been horrific - not to mention the journey and end point!!

Ruby Wilson

9/1/2015 02:13:17 am

I personally think it's disgraceful. What these people who support this trade don't realise, is that those who oppose this trade have value judgements. That means that everytime another cruel event is exposed, it is one step closer to you not having a job.

Simon W

9/1/2015 02:14:32 am

44. 4 deg C official temp, which is in the shade. The temp out in the sun on trucks and loading areas of the large concrete and asphalt heat sinks of the ports would have been much higher, scorching in fact, no doubt well in excess of 50 deg C. If any one tries to suggest that all of the cattle involved would not have been suffering significant levels of heat stress in those conditions, they should be excluded from having any involvement due to their inability to comprehend the obvious. Only one animal was panting or drooling?! Rubbish, who are they trying to kid? By that stage, it was too late anyway, even if the industry paid vet monitors had opened their eyes. What could they do at that stage? Leave them on the trucks, then have them driven them away, but they would have already been heat stressed. The whole operation should never have started, it was well known how hot it would be, and this shows how the alleged animal welfare priorities of this trade are an utter farce.

To make matters worse, the RSPCA have been contacted about this; their response was that unless someone who witnessed this submits a complaint to them, they will not even look into it...despite how obviously heat stressed the cattle must logically have been.

Suzanne Cass link

9/1/2015 02:39:01 am

Excellent work, VALE. We are using the photographic evidence we have and the legislative framework, plus your excellent information here, to file complaints to all the authorities involved. And we will continue to do so until something is done. As for Penfold'd claims, in the vernacular, she would say that, wouldn't she?

Gail Luitingh

9/1/2015 02:55:59 am

As long as the existing laws for farm animal welfare are in place, improving the standards is almost impossible. LE needs a transparent, ethical, audited and compassionate approach, this does NOT exist at present. International condemnation of this barbaric trade needs to be heeded.

Helen Johnstone

9/1/2015 03:17:52 am

Good reply to a penfold VALE. She also forgot to mention who was paying the vets that were present.....

Susan Kulka

9/1/2015 08:38:24 am

When oh when will this torturous live export trade end. Each mention of its name is like a little dose of poison to me and, in my opinion, those involved with this trade are heartless souls.

Karen Smith

9/1/2015 10:43:00 pm

Thanks VALE for trying to keep them honest and accountable. Time after time we see breaches of the animal welfare act yet an occasional slap on the wrist is all the action ever taken. For some reason this cruel trade seems to be protected vehemently and other kinds of business are smothered with rigorous and unworkable laws with heavy and harsh penalties enforced. To load animals in this heat is deplorable and to try and defend is simply evil and immoral.

Dr Rosemary Elliott, President of Sentient, The Veterinary Institute for Animal Ethics

10/1/2015 04:31:45 am

Thank you VALE for that excellent response to Alison Penfold's defense of a situation most people would identify as inhumane. The inconsistencies in industry's definition of heat stress are a joke and need to be highlighted. We must all lobby about this incident, the more voices the better. And don't be fooled by the 'vets onboard' argument; industry vets work to industry-defined standards.

Cheryl

11/1/2015 12:09:05 pm

Loading animals on a live export ship in a heat wave is highly cruel! I don't understand how the RSPCA and the government could allow it!

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Loading cattle in Adelaide heat

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