On 23 Sep 2003 10:37:58 -0700, franzschwarzenegger@yahoo.dk (Rainer
Wolfcastle) wrote:
>papertargets@... (Papertargets) wrote in message news:<20030921231441.22854.00000937@mb-m23....>...
>> When visitors come from the U.S., what are good bargains? Electronics, Opals,
>> Camera's, Watches, Cigars, Sheepskins? Thanks.
>
>Sheepskins? Well the Aussies might torture 60,000 sheep to amuse you.
>
>http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/23/1064082991895.html
>
>60,000 Dying Sheep onboard a national shame for sick Aussies
we're not sick. We have socialized medicine and get well very
quickly.
Plus, the sheep are Saudi owned on board a ship own by the Dutch
company VROON b.l.
THOM
>By Michelle Grattan
>September 24, 2003
>
>The MV Cormo Express has become the Tampa of the live sheep export
>trade. Unable to land at their destination of Saudi Arabia, more than
>50,000 Australian sheep, loaded in early August, yesterday remained in
>search of a third country to take them for money, or free.
>
>Their sorry tale - seven weeks on the sea so far, rather than a
>fortnight's trip - has raised fresh questions about Australia's
>billion-dollar live animal export industry, which regularly causes
>thousands of deaths and inflicts suffering that would not be tolerated
>onshore.
>
>In the face of this, what does Agriculture Minister Warren Truss say?
>
>He quotes the on-board vet, saying the sheep - apart from about 3800
>that have died - have put on weight. As the RSPCA's Hugh Wirth says,
>it makes it sound like they're "enjoying some Mediterranean cruise".
>They might be getting heavier, but it is not because they're living
>comfortably or normally.
>
>The Government refused to say where the ship was - until the media
>found it near Dubai - claiming publicity doesn't help the hunt for a
>country to take them.
>
>
> advertisement
>
> advertisement
>
>Nor did it want to give mortality figures, fearing it would get locked
>into running a daily death watch. Releasing figures was left to the
>ship's owners.
>
>Truss has also condemned "unsympathetic reporting of the issues. For
>commentators, reporters or animal liberation activists to paint the
>situation in any way that is likely to undermine the confidence of
>potential buyers is not helpful to the welfare of the sheep."
>
>Is he serious? Is he really saying yet another cruel disaster in the
>livestock export industry should be hushed up?
>
>It is not as though this is an isolated incident, as shown by a glance
>through the October 2002 report from Truss's Independent Reference
>Group on the trade.
>
>Truss asked for more advice from this group - which had recommended a
>much tighter regime more than two years before - after a spate of bad
>incidents.
>
>The mortality rates during seven voyages last year - all but one to
>the Middle East - were: February, MV Norvantes (bound for Jakarta) 99
>cattle (8.5 per cent); June, MV Becrux 880 cattle (44 per cent) and
>1418 sheep (2 per cent); July, MV Corriedale Express 6119 sheep (11
>per cent); July, MV Al Messilah 2173 sheep (3 per cent); July, MV Al
>Shuwaikh 5800 sheep (7 per cent); July, Cormo Express 1064 (2 per
>cent); and September, Al Shuwaikh 2304 sheep (4 per cent).
>
>The group saw these as "evidence of systematic failures within the
>whole live animal export program". It pointed particularly to
>shipments originating from Portland, where the animals were poorly
>prepared for voyages.
>
>It also said that while some reforms had been made since its February
>2000 recommendations, neither industry nor the regulators had been
>ready for the "cultural change" required. In other words, a lot of
>feet had been dragged. When the sheep arrived, Saudi officials claimed
>scabby mouth (against which sheep are now twice vaccinated) was above
>the accepted limit - a conclusion rejected by the Australian vet.
>
>Tempting as it might be to look for a political motive, there is no
>evidence of this. The Saudis have a record of turning away shiploads.
>The live sheep trade to Saudi Arabia resumed only in 2000 after more
>than a decade's suspension by Australia; this had followed shipments
>being refused on health grounds.
>
>The great concern, on the Government's part, is that if there is too
>much hoo-ha over these sheep, the whole trade will be put in jeopardy.
>It is worth $200 million to Australia in exports to Saudi Arabia. It's
>the risk of a dangerous backlash that's prompted the Government to
>intervene in a private transaction, frantically searching for a
>destination, even though the sheep, with a Saudi owner, are no longer
>Australian sheep but Saudi refugees.
>
>Already exports to Saudi Arabia have been suspended until this is
>sorted out. The Government couldn't afford the spectacle of further
>ships drifting about.
>
>There are now two issues: what should be done with these animals? And,
>is this trade too inhumane to be pursued?
>
>Wirth argues that the Government won't be able to find a port for the
>sheep and it's impractical to bring them home, so they should be
>progressively put down.
>
>But the Australian Veterinary Association, in a rather harrowing news
>release yesterday, said mass slaughter could be "an animal welfare and
>environmental disaster". "There will be thousands of litres of blood",
>it said; animal rights groups "have not considered that the sheep may
>have to watch the slaughter, nor have they considered the welfare of
>the people who would have to carry this out".
>
>Both the Government and the industry argue against putting down the
>sheep, still hopeful a destination can be found. The Government
>doesn't want the sheep repatriated, because it's a long voyage and
>there are quarantine difficulties; the ship's owners have canvassed
>the possibility of returning them to Fremantle, although they'd much
>prefer to offload them regionally.
>
>Greens senator Bob Brown yesterday called for the ship to be ordered
>back at once, saying any quarantine problems are Truss's. Meanwhile
>Australian authorities are trying to continue negotiations with the
>Pakistanis, despite their saying they won't take the sheep.
>
>Animal rights advocate Peter Singer, who calls for euthanasia in this
>case, insists the entire live trade is a "disgrace" that should be
>stopped.
>
>"It's a terrible ordeal for the animals at the best of times. They
>have a nightmare voyage, and then they get treated brutally after they
>land, as if they were just sacks of wheat rather than living, feeling
>animals. Every year or two, there is another major scandal . . . The
>federal minister says that he will implement reforms, but then . . .
>the same thing, or something worse, happens again."
>
>The RSPCA opposes the live export industry, but Wirth recognises that
>neither side of politics will end it. But he wants much more control
>over it.
>
>So does the Australian public. Even if Truss can solve the Cormo
>Express problem quickly, what has happened in this and many other
>instances should weigh on our conscience.
>
>
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