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Thousands of exported Australian sheep died from heat in a single day Death at sea of 4,200 Australian sheep prompts new call for live exports ban
(about 3 hours later)
Thousands of Australian sheep died of severe heat stress on a single day on a live export ship destined for the Middle East – the worst live export shipboard disaster in recent history. Almost 4,200 sheep died on a journey from Australia to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, largely as a result of heat stress, an official investigation has found.
The Department of Agriculture is expected to release details of the incident on Friday, some four months after the disaster unfolded. The exporter responsible for the shipment is Jordanian-owned Livestock Shipping Services (LSS) – the export company currently under investigation for serious breaches of live export regulations in Jordan and Gaza. The findings by Australia’s Department of Agriculture have led to renewed calls by animal welfare campaigners to end live exports. Opponents of the trade said it was the worst such incident in recent history.
The livestock vessel, Bader III, loaded some 75,000 sheep in Adelaide and Fremantle last August for Qatar and UAE. Transporting live animals from an Australian winter into the heat of the Middle Eastern summer is always highly risky. A report issued on Friday said mortality exceeded the 2% reportable level in two consignments of sheep loaded in Adelaide and Fremantle for export to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The overall mortality rate during the August to September voyage was about 5.5%, with 4,179 mortalities recorded out of 75,508 sheep loaded on to the Bader III.
Despite this, LSS took legal action five years ago to fight a government directive to give sheep on such high-risk voyages additional space. “According to the veterinarian’s end of voyage report 97% of the mortalities were due to heat stress,” the department noted in one of several incident and mortality reports it published.
“The suffering of these animals is too horrific even to imagine. In these temperatures, the ship would have turned into an oven, with these thousands of individual sheep literally baking alive,” said Animals Australia campaign director Lyn White. “The remaining 3% of mortalities were due to enteritis, pneumonia, inanition and trauma.”
“Even on a normal summer's day in the Middle East, the temperature can hover over 40C, placing animals at high risk and significantly compromising their welfare. So the exporter cannot say that such an incident is 'unexpected' when weather conditions in all parts of the world are routinely becoming more extreme. The department said sheep were exposed to temperatures above the heat stress threshold on days 20 to 21, when the vessel was in the Arabian Gulf heading towards the port of Doha, Qatar, and on days 31 to 32, when it was discharging sheep in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates.
“Even supporters of this trade should reach the conclusion that we shouldn't load live animals onto ships and send them into the extreme heat of a Middle Eastern summer. This is just another in a long list of incidents resulting in mass animal suffering that was entirely unnecessary and preventable.” During the “extreme weather conditions” on the afternoon of day 21, some wet-bulb temperatures were reported to be as high as 38C.
Animals Australia said the risks of lengthy sea voyages for animals are well known with almost 20,000 sheep dying on board each year. The department said it approved a subsequent consignment on the same vessel, departing Australia in November, subject to a condition that the sheep be provided with 10% additional space over minimum requirements.
“We can’t control the weather. We can't control the treatment of animals in other countries. What is within our control is whether we put animals at risk in the first place.” It said this later consignment showed no evidence of heat stress and a lower mortality rate (0.24%, or 182 deaths out of 77,095 sheep loaded).
“It is a risk that cannot be justified. Last year, the Middle East took twice as many Australian sheep in carcass form as they did live sheep – so what are we doing still putting live animals on ships? The department said it would continue to monitor heat-related mortality and consider additional measures, such as requiring extra space to be provided to livestock exported on vessels that recorded significant numbers of deaths.
“That the suspension in trade to Bahrain has led that country to completely replace live sheep with sheep meat from Australia is irrefutable proof that live export is not necessary. The Labor MP Kelvin Thomson – a critic of live animal exports – said heat stress was “a terrible way to die” with animals suffering convulsions and severe distress.
“Australians will once again be sickened, ashamed and outraged that animals born and bred into Australian care have again been abandoned to such appalling cruelty. It is inconceivable that an industry with such a dreadful track record continues to retain political support.” “If the heat stress was sufficient to kill 4,000 sheep it will also have caused pain and suffering for the other animals,” he said, calling for action against the exporter, Livestock Shipping Services (LSS).
“If Australia’s claims to be concerned about animal welfare are to mean something, there have to be consequences for this debacle. LSS should have their export licence taken off them indefinitely.”
LSS issued a statement on Thursday saying the sheep had been loaded according to Australian standards and met the requirements for stocking density and the amount of fodder. The company said the majority of the sheep died during an extreme weather event on the 21st day of the voyage.
"The industry and government-supported heat stress risk modelling computer software was used to assess this voyage and is used by the company to assess all voyages to the Middle East and northern hemisphere destination markets,” LSS said.
The company also pointed to the low mortality rate on the next voyage in November after the government ordered it to increase space requirements. It said it was a leading exporter of livestock and was committed to animal welfare and supporting Australian farmers.
But the campaign director of Animals Australia, Lyn White, said the suffering of the animals was “too horrific even to imagine”.
“In these temperatures, the ship would have turned into an oven, with these thousands of individual sheep literally baking alive,” she said.
“Even on a normal summer's day in the Middle East, the temperature can hover over 40C, placing animals at high risk and significantly compromising their welfare.”
White said even supporters of the live export trade should reach the conclusion that animals should not be loaded onto ships and sent into the extreme heat of a Middle Eastern summer.
“Australians will once again be sickened, ashamed and outraged that animals born and bred into Australian care have again been abandoned to such appalling cruelty. It is inconceivable that an industry with such a dreadful track record continues to retain political support,” she said.
The Greens senator Lee Rhiannon said she would re-introduce a bill to the Senate seeking to ban live animal exports.
"This is the worst animal disaster at sea in recent history and another damning example of how the government continues to fail animals in the live export trade," she said in a statement.
"The only solution to end this horrific suffering is to end live exports and rebuild our domestic meat manufacturing by moving to chilled box meat exports."
The incident was documented in one of nine reports released by the Agriculture Department on Friday. They included six compliance investigation reports on allegations of mistreatment, improper handling and unauthorised movement of animals in importing countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Some complaints were justified and others were dismissed for a lack of evidence.
For example, the department said it was unable to substantiate a complaint from Animals Australia in June alleging that Australian animals arriving in Israel were taken off food and water some 48 hours before unloading.
But extra conditions were imposed on three Australian exporters to Kuwait after evidence of “a loss of control leading to unauthorised movement of sheep” outside the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System – a process intended to address concerns over animal welfare following live export.
The department’s report said the non-compliance was likely to result in animal welfare outcomes not consistent with World Organisation for Animal Health recommendations and “a major non-compliance was recorded against Emanuel [one of the export companies]”.
Comment has been sought from Emanuel Exports Pty Ltd. But the department outlined action taken since the incident, saying exporters to Kuwait, including Emanuel Exports, voluntarily arranged for additional security to be in place at the abattoirs in the supply chain to address the risk of unauthorised movement of sheep from the abattoirs.
In a media statement accompanying the series of reports, the department said it had determined that in some instances handling and slaughter was not consistent with required standards for animals left at approved facilities, showing an exporter’s supply chain arrangements were inadequate.
The department said it had placed additional conditions on future consignments of affected exporters, including restrictions on the use of specific supply chains to reduce opportunities for livestock to exit approved facilities, increased supervision of movement of livestock through the supply chain, increased reporting and monitoring obligations, and additional security at feedlots and abattoirs to minimise the risk of theft of livestock.
“Exporters have also implemented their own measures, including further training to improve animal handling when animals are being unloaded,” the department said.
It said it investigated all complaints to ensure animal welfare outcomes were consistent with international standards and Australian supply chain guidelines.
“A strong livestock export industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy and supports our regional communities. The department will continue to work with the industry, and the public, and importing countries to ensure the trade continues and animal welfare standards are met,” the statement said.
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