SYDNEY, 2 October 2003 — Australia will not halt its lucrative live animal exports despite concern over the plight of thousands of sheep that have been stranded at sea on a cargo ship for eight weeks, the government said yesterday.
Australia exports 195 million Australian dollars ($125 million) worth of live animals each year, mostly to Islamic countries that require halal meat products.
Australia also provides pre-packed halal meat to Islamic countries, but the demand is higher for livestock as many customers cannot afford the packaged product or do not have refrigeration to keep it fresh.
“I don’t support ending the live sheep trade altogether,” Prime Minister John Howard told Adelaide radio station 5DN.
“We are looking again at the way in which it takes place and we’re involving our quarantine people and others in that,” he added. “We do want to make it as humane as possible.”
Howard conceded that the more than 50,000 sheep stranded aboard a cargo ship in the Middle East will have to return to Australia. Saudi Arabian officials rejected the shipment last month, saying too many of the animals were suffering from the disease scabby mouth. The government has since bought back the sheep and has been trying unsuccessfully to give them away, amid criticism from animal rights groups at home and abroad that the live animal trade is inhumane.
“It is a very distressing issue and we are trying everything we can to deal with this particular shipment,” Howard said. “It looks to me the only realistic alternative is to bring them back and they’ll be subject to very strict quarantine.”
Animal rights activists said they would greet the so-called “ship of death” with mass demonstrations if it returns to Australia. As protests were planned around the world for today to mark International Farm Animals Day, animal rights groups repeated their call for slaughter at sea as the most humane solution.
But Howard has ruled out slaughter at sea as impractical. In an emotional broadcast, he insisted that he also was upset about the plight of the sheep and that “15 to 20” approaches had been made to find a taker for them.
He ruled out an end to the live animal trade saying the trade was too valuable to Australian ranchers to ban it outright.
“It is an important trade and it does contribute to the livelihood of many Australians,” he said.
