Yemeni Houthis have attacked the livestock vessel MV Shorthorn Express overnight. The Shorthorn Express was carrying animals and heading from Portugal to Haifa Port.  It is unclear the extent of the damage (if any) at this stage but is has been diverted to Malta.The drone missile attack occurred in the Mediterranean Sea, where the MV Bahijah will be headed from Australia shortly.
 
The Bahijah is due into Fremantle Port on 28 June to take Australian animals the long route around the Cape of Good Hope, through the Mediterranean to Israel. The live export industry apparently have no qualms about sending winter-acclimatised Australian animals into a searing northern hemisphere. Interestingly, the industry continues to proclaim that the Northern Hemisphere Summer moratorium for sheep was entirely their idea and self imposed (their moratorium was from June to August despite the AVA advice not to ship from May to October) to improve animal welfare. Perhaps only  if there was a risk of being regulated...??

See:
https://shafaq.com/en/Iraq/IRI-Ansarallah-target-ships-in-Haifa-the-Mediterranean
https://www.marinelink.com/news/houthis-claim-attack-four-ships-israels-514669
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/23/yemens-houthis-claim-joint-raid-on-israeli-ships-with-iraqi-militia
https://fakti.bg/en/world/890987-houthis-attack-merchant-ships-in-haifa-port

ABC reported that hundreds of Hajj pilgrims have died this week in Mecca including an Australian man. Temperatures on Tuesday reached 47 degrees Celsius in Mecca and the sacred sites in and around the city, according to the Saudi National Center for Meteorology. The extreme heat apparently made it difficult to keep people safe. 
The temperature at Jeddah, where Australian sheep were offloaded from the MV Jawan on 11 June is much milder but where did those sheep go after they were offloaded? If they went inland, towards Mecca, they too could be in extreme temperatures. But rest assured ESCAS will take care of them as it solves all end-destination health and welfare problems for Australian animals overseas.

The Albanese Government introduced legislation for the phaseout timeline and financial assistance package in the Lower House today. VALE welcomes the introduction of the legislation and congratulates the Government for following through steadily and carefully with its election commitment.
 
See: https://mailchi.mp/rspca/rspca-media-rspca-welcomes-budget-confirmation-of-live-sheep-export-phase-out-5067220?e=6394fdc579

The United Kingdom’s Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill has just passed its final stage in Parliament and will soon be enshrined into law. This will mean that the UK has banned export of farmed animals by sea. The Australian Labor Government also announced this weekend (11/05/24) that from May 2028, they will ban live export of sheep by sea. These moves have two competitive trading partners passing progressive animal welfare legislation whilst NZ, thanks to the previous Labour government’s agricultural Minister, Damien O’Connor - while the National-led coalition government has a ban already in place....albeit the National-led coalition is busy trying to winding it back (a move seemingly as unpopular with most farmers as it is the general public with one farmer describing it as trying to "polish a turd").

It could well be that if these three trading partners stand firm on their respective bans that a clear signal will be sent worldwide that this trade is not acceptable. Could this be the beginning of the end of the animal version of the human slave trade?

See what New Zealand Vets have to say about it : https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2405/S00071/live-export-new-zealand-sails-backwards-whilst-the-uk-and-australia-competitively-sail-forward.htm

The Minister for Agriculture Minister Murray Watt today released the Government’s plan to phase out live sheep exports setting an end date of 1 May 2028 and providing an adjustment package of $107 million. The intention is to legislate the phaseout in this term of parliament. The decision follows the recommendations of the Independent Panel to end live sheep exports and transition the industry towards chilled meat exports.
 
As VALE spokesperson Dr Sue Foster stated: "The Government has responded to the justifiable concerns of the majority of Australians and also to animal welfare science. The investment of $2.6 million in animal welfare measures as part of the transition package further demonstrates the Government’s recognition of the importance of ethical treatment of animals."

Still 4 more years of suffering for the sheep though. It is significant that NZ could phase out a much larger and more lucrative national export trade in 2 years whilst it takes Australia 4 years to phaseout an export trade from one state! But lets hope, that unlike NZ, the package means that it will really happen and be permanent.

Yes, that is how some NZ farmers have reacted when asked about their opinion on the resintatement of live ex in NZ with new "gold standards" - listen to the audio recording of the interview with the Minister at https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/515713/live-cattle-exports-help-farmers-diversify-income-associate-agriculture-minister.
The Minister or a government that is already polling badly tried in vain to defend his position....given the deep unpopularity of live ex in NZ, the current Govt may see this as having backed the wrong issue. Lets hope that concerns over their political survival for more than a term will see them drop this retrograde proposal.

The ABC reported that the likely cause of the high mortality incident on the Brahman Express  was a parasitic disease known as coccidiosis....not botulism as so widely touted. In a statement to ABC Rural a DAFF spokesperson said "coccidiosis has been identified as a potential cause of the deaths, however a definitive diagnosis has not yet been reached." They couldnt say much else really as its a pretty embarrassing mistake in diagnostics if it were confirmed - botulism is a neuromuscular disease with quite obvious clinical signs (tongue paralysis especially evident in cattle) due to a toxin whilst coccidiosis causes gastrointestinal disease and is due to a parasite...not hugely similar in presentation to botulism...unless someone is about to write up a very novel presentation of coccidiosis.
But in the end who would know...cocci seems a very unusual cause of mass sudden death also so both seem implausible. Bottom line is that there should have been a vet onboard to assess these cattle clinically and there wasnt...just a stockperson with a 4 day accreditation course.

More than 150 cattle died on the Brahman Express after it left Darwin on March 14, prompting the Indonesian government to suspend imports from the export yard until the cause was confirmed. Australian authorities were quick to claim that it was most likely botulism, a non-contagious disease.
Zach Hope from the Sydney Morning Herald delved deeper and has stated "But who knew what, and how the Indonesians were informed, remained mysterious."
The Australian government has refused to answer even the most basic questions. Disgracefully, "most of what we know comes from authorities in Indonesia. Late on Thursday, the government there made it known it had demanded Australia investigate why Indonesian officials were allegedly told by the crew that only eight cattle had died aboard the Brahman Express when in fact it was 151." SMH interviewed former live ex vet, Dr Lynn Simpson and her full responses are well worth reading..."The reason for misrepresenting the numbers – which neither the Australian government nor shipping company Vroon would confirm – could have been related to fears about Indonesia potentially turning the boat and its roughly 2300 live animals away, she said. Such a move would have created a debacle at sea good for no one, especially the cattle. “[The empty ship] has probably scurried away,” Simpson said. “Then maybe Australia phoned the Indonesians later to say, ‘Oh gee, really sorry about that’.”
Logs showed the ship left the Indonesian port of Medan about 24 hours after its arrival, and before news emerged of the deaths. Botulism has still not been officially confirmed as the cause of death but no other diagnoses have been provided by the as-ever non-transparent Dept of Ag.

In yet another unpredictable twist for this voyage that goes every which way (Fremantle to Israel, oops no...South Africa...oops no ....Fremantle....to Israel..oops no?, the MV Bahijah is now anchored in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. WHY? HOW MANY DAYS WILL THIS ADD TO THE ALREADY UNTHINKABLY LONG VOYAGE? Needless to say, the Dept have not commented on this deviation from plan.