Alive and kicking: Australia's animal export trade booms despite persistent claims of cruelty
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Version 0 of 1. When the ABC’s Four Corners broadcast footage of the gruesome abuse of cattle shipped to Indonesia in 2011, it seemed like a watershed moment for the live animal export trade. The Labor government moved hurriedly to suspend live exports to the country, lifting the ban a month later with the introduction of tougher animal welfare restrictions. Exporters and associated industries responded with outrage, predicting dire consequences for the future of the trade and later threatening legal action against the federal government over their losses. Yet four years on, live export is no longer in retreat. Quite the opposite. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of sheep and the fourth-largest exporter of cattle. A record 613,000 cattle were nudged on to boats heading out of Darwin, the largest cattle export port in the world, in the financial year 2014-15. And the numbers are set to grow further. The federal government recently signed a deal to send livestock to China, adding to similar agreements struck with Lebanon, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Cambodia and Thailand since the Coalition took power. But animal activists and vets say the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (Escas), which was introduced in 2011 and supposed to ensure minimum standards of animal welfare, has been woefully ineffective, and the government has ignored the recommendations of its own review calling for better conditions for animals in transit. Dr Bidda Jones, a vet who co-wrote the report, said: “The standards upon ships have not changed for five years. They aren’t good enough. The industry knows there are problems with them but they resist changing. It’s all about money, really.” Grim videos show cruelty continues Since February 2012, the government has launched 70 investigations into breaches of live export rules. These include examples of horrendous cruelty, of cattle tied up and bludgeoned with sledgehammers or pinned to the ground in the middle of a street and stabbed in the neck. Of these investigations, 22 have found there was a breach of the rules, with one Western Australian exporter, International Livestock Export, responsible for five of them. However, no charges have been laid against any exporter or individual, nor any export licences refused. Action has instead mainly revolved around altering the list of facilities that Australian exporters can do business with. Escas was supposed to ensure that exporters monitored the welfare of animals from departure to slaughter. But grim videos from Kuwait, Jordan and Gaza, among others, show its standards have been flouted in painfully visible ways. The government review of live export standards, submitted two years ago, called for better conditions for animals in transit. But Jones says it has sat dormant since then. “None of the recommendations around improving bedding or density of the pens have been adopted,” she says. “If they were, there would be a number of improvements to animals subjected to export.” More than 99% of animals [are] arriving at their destination in a healthy condition In response, a Department of Agriculture spokesperson said: “A review into the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (Asel) was undertaken by the previous government and was finalised in May 2013. The review found that Asel was working well and made three recommendations to further reform the standards. “This government came to office with a strong reform agenda for the livestock export sector that included reducing red and green tape and streamlining regulation. The government is delivering on that removing the need for non-binding MoUs with importing countries and improving the audit regime of Escas. “Importantly Asel continues to deliver good welfare outcomes, with on-board livestock mortalities remaining at historically very low levels and more than 99% of animals arriving at their destination in a healthy condition.” Last year, 16,147 sheep died in transit. More than 1,600 cattle met the same fate. Still, in both cases that constitutes less than 1% of the animals put on to boats and aircraft. Statistics from the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council show the mortality rate for sheep on live export voyages has declined from 2.5% in 1996 to 0.71% in 2014. The mortality rate for cattle has also declined, from about 0.4% in 1996 to 0.12% in 2014. There are 35 investigations into live export rule breaches currently in train. Animals Australia is holding out hope of punitive action from the latest raft of allegations, which include the sixth sighting in three years of Australian sheep at the unaccredited Al Rai market in Kuwait. Hundreds of sheep at the market were allegedly kept on metal trays in 50C heat, hobbled and thrown live on to trucks and car boots before being slaughtered. The Al Rai market is about a five-minute journey from the Kuwait office of Meat and Livestock Australia, the monitoring body for live export. Animals Australia says it has made 36 complaints of animal abuse across eight countries – although it says the government has only acknowledged 27 of them. None has resulted in a fine, imprisonment or refused export licence. Campaigner Lisa Chalk says: “Australia’s involvement in the live export trade is morally wrong for an abundance of obvious reasons. “Since the Escas regulations came in, we’ve seen some of the worst cruelty ever inflicted on exported animals in numerous countries. “In Vietnam, Australian cattle are still facing being sledgehammered to death, exporters have admitted the situation is out of control, yet the Department of Agriculture is still signing off on export permits every week. “The fact breaches are ongoing, yet we haven’t seen one company have their licence suspended or face prosecution, sends a clear message to exporters that they have nothing to fear from breaking the rules, so why comply?” ‘These are completely alien environments’ The beatings and the botched slaughter are only part of the equation. The journey of livestock by sea and air should be “reason enough in itself to shut down the live export industry”, Chalk says. Journeys can take up to 30 days, in which time sheep and cattle are packed into pens, unable to lie down at the same time. Modern ships have air conditioning but the heat stress can be considerable, especially at this time of year when animals are being taken from a relatively chilly Australia to the blazing heat of a Middle Eastern summer. Sheep are considered by observers to have the worst deal – packed in tightly with less vet care than the cattle; 174 sheep died on a flight to Singapore in October, most likely due to faulty air conditioning. Some animals refuse to eat the pellets given to them on their journey, given how different it is to pasture. The largest markets for live exports of cattle are in Asia, with Australia exporting 730,257 cattle to Indonesia in 2014, followed by smaller amounts to Vietnam and China. The biggest markets for live sheep are in the Middle East, with Kuwait and Qatar topping the list with 744,671 and 539,250 respectively. Australia also exports a significant number of live goats to Malaysia, sending more than 82,725 in 2014. “It’s important to not underestimate how stressful journeys are for livestock,” insists Jones, who is the RSPCA’s chief scientist. “They start off on a farm, are put on to a truck, put in quarantine with a mix of unfamiliar animals, put on to another truck then a ship for up to a month – these are completely alien environments to them. “Everything we know about the stress suffered by these animals shows that you should slaughter them as close as you can to where you raised them.” Increasing global demand Others see the growth of the trade in an entirely different light. The agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, was delighted with the China deal, predicting China would want about a million head of cattle from Australia, although the first year will involve a more manageable 40,000. Related: Planned live cattle export agreement with China hailed by Barnaby Joyce The Northern Territory’s government says the deal will be a “game changer” for the territory’s farmers. The export industry itself is feeling upbeat. Alison Penfold, chief executive of the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council, says: “In 2011 we were facing a different scenario to today. There is optimism in the market today. There is increasing demand globally for our livestock, supported by the supply chain welfare assurance.” The live export industry holds economic and political clout. The $1.4bn sector supports about 10,000 jobs. More than eight million head of livestock have been exported to 18 countries in the four years under Escas. When Indonesia recently slashed the number of cattle it will import from Australia, Joyce said: “It’s my responsibility to find an alternate venue for those cattle.” Tony Abbott has castigated the previous Labor government for shutting down to the trade to Indonesia “in a panic over a TV program”. Penfold rejects the assertion from activists that the government is beholden to the live export industry and does not take animal abuse seriously. “We are not subsidised in any way and we face a lot more regulation than other industries,” she says. “Australia is a giant in terms of improving livestock treatment overseas. Unfortunately there are false prophets out there who think they know better than farmers and producers.” Sending livestock overseas to approved locations involves rigorous work. Animals are inspected in government-run quarantine facilities before being allowed to make the journey, usually by ship, which can last a few days to Indonesia, or more than a week to the Middle East. Exporters are then responsible for ensuring the animals are transported properly to approved abattoirs for slaughter. Given just 7% of Australian cattle and 6% of Australian sheep are sent overseas alive, some argue they should simply be slaughtered in Australia. The industry insists this would work against the simple forces of the market. Overseas buyers want live animals – shutting down the industry would simply reduce demand and the prices farmers can obtain for their produce. “We provide live export simply because there is a demand for it,” Penfold says. Related: Indonesia's 80% cut in cattle imports takes Australian industry by surprise Although meat can be produced in the approved halal way in Australia, some Muslim countries want to control the slaughter themselves. A lack of refrigeration and the predominance of open-air markets are also cited as reasons for animals being kept alive as long as possible. Australia’s twin gifts of space and wealth give it the meat-producing resources that many countries in south-east Asia and the Middle East lack. Throw in the lack of abattoirs in northern Australia, where most live export producers are based, and the case for sending live animals overseas is clear, at least to its proponents. ‘Calling people barbarians – does that teach them?’ But there are obvious challenges in attempting to regulate a sprawling trade in distant countries that do not share Australia’s welfare procedures. Animals can disappear overnight, trucks can be diverted to obscure locations in murky circumstances, back doors of abattoirs can be left open. Once animals are peeled away from the approved supply chain, they can suffer. The exporters responsible for overseeing this process are meant be regulated, although animals welfare groups insist they are simply left to police themselves. “The regulatory system is fundamentally flawed,” says Animals Australia’s Chalk. “Without government oversight in importing countries, we still in effect have a system of self-regulation despite this industry showing time and time that it cannot be trusted – to either accurately report what’s happening on the ground or prioritise the welfare of animals. “This must be the only Australian industry that can break the law and get away with it.” The industry’s response to this is almost one of exasperation – of those 8m livestock, 99% have got to their destination alive and there have been only a few dozen complaints of abuse once they do get there. “We have our standards but other countries need to step up to the plate and meet their obligations,” Penfold said. “Quite frankly, there needs to be a lot more focus on these countries. There would be no welfare issue if they met their obligations.” The Escas system has provided training for more than 7,000 workers in abattoirs overseas. But abuses still occur in approved slaughterhouses, such as the grotesque sledgehammer beatings in Vietnam. “This behaviour isn’t condoned or approved, it just isn’t in our interest for that kind of thing to occur,” Penfold says. “A lot of people in abattoirs aren’t educated. It’s a pretty rough job and when we provide training it’s often the first time these people have been told they have a skill set. “Shouting from social media, calling people cruel and barbarians – does that teach them to do the job better? This change has to be generational. If you shut it down, the standards would fall and you’d have even more of a black market.” Jones is unimpressed that abattoir workers are being trained overseas and doesn’t see the abuse outrages drying up. “You can’t change the level of education and standards in a country by training a small number of people,” she says. “Most abattoir workers are transient people. You train 80 of them and see how many are there next year.” The agriculture department says there are consequences for broken rules, citing how the supply chain to Gaza has been severed and how individual facilities in Vietnam and Jordan have been blacklisted. “Australia is the only one of more than 100 countries that exports live animals that requires World Organisation for Animal Health welfare standards to be met as a minimum for exported livestock,” a spokeswoman said. The chief executive of the Northern Territory Live Exporters Association, Stuart Kemp, lists improvements that are under way, from the installation of CCTV to the suspension of abattoirs found to be noncompliant. “Those improvements will go on until the end of time,” he said. “It would be nice if it was perfect, but you have humans and you have distance. There is bound to be human error.” |