The real Bass Strait tragedy

9/2/2016

Certainly an animal welfare disaster when 59 out of 200 or so cattle die during a Bass Strait crossing in an open boat in high seas. However, possibly worse still if one looks at the general picture....ie were these non-prime beef cattle (eg in poor condition after the Tassie drought) or were they "cast for age" dairy cows, too old to be milked any more?

Greenham's website states that its Tongala plant in Victoria is Non-Halal and processes mainly cast-for-age dairy cows for export to the USA.

Difficult to comprehend that the most "hard-working" of all Australian cattle, with the most human contact, could end their days rewarded with a rough sea crossing before they get slaughtered...for hamburger meat! VALE maintains that animals should be slaughtered as close to the point of production as possible.

2 Comments

Dimity

9/2/2016 02:52:21 pm

Maybe before you guys start speculating some facts inserted might be good ?
Like dairy cows aren't in drought as the dairy areas are A. Under irrigation, B are on the NE or NW coast where it is not in a drought affected area.
Tasmania has enough issues with being an island state and not having the ability to travel between states freely like other mainland states. We do not have a federal hwy across the strait and it costs a fortune to move anything we produce ... Our subsides are very limited and certainly not free trade as the other states are.
Please before you push us as a live export .., do your research ... We are a STATE of Australia ... We are not exporting anything ... However the was an absolute disgrace.., whoever made the decision to move cattle when the seas were high at Victoria need to be held accountable... Normally when we send cattle and horses there is a max wave height they can travel to. We have never ever had an issue when cattle are held over because of this. They either stay at the base in Tasmania or are held in Victoria overnight with food and water in holding yards.
Please re think your comments ...

VALE

10/2/2016 12:47:07 pm

Thanks for your comments Dimity.
We are not quite sure what your point is re dairy cows and drought as VALE never claimed any dairy cows were transported because of drought. The initial industry reports stated that the animals were being transported for slaughter due to increased drought turnoff but confidential information supplied to VALE coupled with the now revealed vessel, trip etc, all suggest that the shipment may well have been cast for age dairy cows....ie past their use by date, not drought affected.
We do take your point re live export as these particular animals were not being exported but VALE has peer-reviewed papers on welfare of livestock transported by sea so it is within our professional remit to comment on maritime livestock disasters no matter the end stock destination. It is also unfortunately true that part of the reason we monitor the Tas situation is that while Tas itself no longer participates in live export trade directly, many animals from Tas (sheep especially) are still sent across Bass Strait to join live export consignments, albeit not in this particular case.
VALE is incoporated in Tasmania as a number of our members are Tasmanian (including some livestock producing veterinarians). We are acutely aware of the Tasmanian economy and its difficulties. Unfortunately, regardless of economy, animals should not suffer . It matters not whether they are raised in Tasmania or the Kimberley (far more isolated than Tasmania with unique economic difficulties). The Animal Cruelty legislation in this country does not recognise economic difficulties of the animal owners or agents, it recognises animal welfare alone.
Finally, VALE, as a professional veterinary group is more than justified in its veterinary position, held by most major veterinary organisations in the world, that all livestock should be slaughtered as close to the point of production as possible. As such we have criticised unnecessary land transport of northern Australian livestock to southern states on trucks and Tasmanian animals sent north by boat. We will continue to do so.

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The real Bass Strait tragedy

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