The shameful Australian practice of live sheep trade.

@ehBeth,

No, this thread was started early in 2006.

That's why some of the information seems rather dated to you, farmer.

@msolga,

I just received a a response from my local member (of federal parliament) this morning. In response to my email, courtesy of GetUp!
I'll post that GetUp! letter here, because it contains more up-to-date information than appears on this thread.

He said, amongst other things:

Quote:

Thank you for your email expressing concern over live animal exports.

I share your concern about this issue and have given a speech in the
Parliament calling for the suspension of live cattle exports to
Indonesia and a review of the live export industry.....

He suggested further contact if I required more from him. So I'll be back in touch over the next couple of days. I'd like the issue of live animal imports to stay on the agenda once this "Indonesian issue" is off the front papers of our newspapers. The problem is much bigger than that.

I realize I received a stock letter-to-constituent response, but he's been a really good supportive local member on a variety of policy matters that have been very import (to me).

Anyway, here's the letter to him:

Quote:

Dear Mr Thomson,

I write to express my opposition to Australia's live export trade and to
urge you to support the Live Animal Export Restriction and Prohibition
Bill 2011 that will place special conditions on exporters of live
animals and will see a complete ban on live animal export by July 2014.

As you will be aware, numerous investigations have exposed the brutal
treatment of Australian animals in countries in Asia and the Middle
East. The recent uncovering of the cruelty inflicted on Australian
cattle in Indonesia further evidences the complete failure of the live
export industry to improve the treatment of our animals overseas.

The Australian public is fed up with industry spin. The damning evidence
from countless investigations makes it abundantly clear that the
industry cannot be trusted to uphold animal welfare or be honest with
the Australian public. The only appropriate course of action now is to
ban this trade and prevent any more animals suffering such a needlessly
cruel fate.

This bill is an important opportunity to right a grievous wrong that has
hung over us as a nation for decades. It is an opportunity to send a
strong message to those who would harm animals that we do not condone
animal abuse, and to establish ourselves as a compassionate and ethical
society in the international community.

It is worth noting that independent economic reports by ACIL Tasman also
predict positive benefits to our economy from an end to the live trade.

The Australian public does not need to see any more gruesome footage of
this trade on TV, we simply need to see this trade stopped.

I implore you to support the Live Animal Export Restriction and
Prohibition Bill 2011 and do everything you can to stop the suffering of
animals in the live export industry as soon as possible. You have the
support of the Australian public behind you. Please make the right
decision!

Sincerely,
*........ *

(msolga)

1 Reply

@msolga,

Here's the Four Corners program for any of you who are interested.
Click on Four Corners. It's the first episode on the list: dated 30th of May, titled A Bloody Business.

A warning. by all accounts, some of the footage is quite shocking.
I didn't watch it myself.
The promotions for the program were about as much as I wanted to see.

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/search/four%20corners

1 Reply

@msolga,

Its only available for downlod to people who are in Australia.

1 Reply

@farmerman,

Oh, sorry about that, farmer.

This might be worth a go.

I can't promise it'll work, but it might.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110530/cattle/

1 Reply

@msolga,

Any success?

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Ban on live cattle trade to Indonesia:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/ban-on-live-cattle-trade-to-indonesia-20110607-1frdg.html

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I've seen (and smelled) the ships with decks full of stacked cages with live sheep in Freemantle harbor, getting ready for the trip to the Persian Gulf. Is the manner of killing them in Australian meat markets materially any better than what is done by the Arabs? I think not.

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@msolga,

Yes, I know that. The most recent posts prior to farmerman's question were from 2008.

1 Reply

@georgeob1,

I'm not a exactly fan of Australian abattoir practices (say nothing of battery chicken farms, etc) either, George, but at the very least the animals are stunned before before killing. Which doesn't occur to animals we export to Indonesia & the Middle East.
I certainly am not arguing that Australia is squeaky clean in this regard. And never have.
I believe transporting live animals (whether in cattle or sheep) by sea (sometimes for weeks or months) is indefensibly cruel, allowing treatment of animals which would be illegal in Australia.

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@ehBeth,

Oh I see.
My mistake, ehBeth.

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@msolga,

Hopefully the four corners effect will spread to other animals and also cause an examination of Australian slaughter practices.

I suspect it's bloody awful for the sheep too.

1 Reply

@georgeob1,

halal is the practice that assures an observant Muslim kills the animal in a cereony. No popping in the head. The animal is bled out alive the observant and the animal ceremony is facing Mecca.

WHen the butchers killed lambs on our farm for the HAj, they skinned the animal and cleaned everything off after the animal was bled out and gutted (dead). We never bothered them and we were a favorite "Club LAmb" purveyor because I had a concrete "killing pad " laid out near the barn paddock with directions on it .

As a result, We were often given a "baksheesh" and were usually left with the skin (which my son had become quite proficient at drying and running up to Quakertown PA where there is a leather and sheepskin tannery. He made a nice living as a part time job in making sheepskins for a car seat cover company during his HS. (nowadays ,as he's no longer at home) I only take about 10 skins a year and we salt all the others down and roll em up for the customer, so the sheepskin can slowly cool down on the customers ride home. (THat way it begins drying and doesnt start putrifying)

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@farmerman,

THAT IS A PROCESS IN WHICH SHEEPS ARE CONVERTED TO MEAT. The fact that it could be done more huimanely by doing it in Australia and shipping the carcasses (with the wooly heads still attached so the Muslim customers in Yemen or wherever can see that it was Halal prepared). This is done for the Orthodox Christian population in USA when they buy their Easter Lambs. I dont understand why the customers at the delivery point dont accept this. I cant believe that every Muslim wamts to slaughter his own sheep.

1 Reply

@farmerman,

Quote:

halal is the practice that assures an observant Muslim kills the animal in a cereony. No popping in the head. The animal is bled out alive the observant and the animal ceremony is facing Mecca.

Yes, I know about ideal halal prescriptions, farmer.
The problem was (in the Indonesian cases which featured in the Four Corners program) that those practices were not exactly happening, leading to completely unnecessary pain & suffering to the cattle concerned.

1 Reply

@msolga,

Thats what I cannot get. As Ive said, every Muslim customer at our farm wanted to slaughter their own lamb ( I dont know whether its something that harkens back to Abraham or what). I too find the tight opacked ship loaded with sheep a cruel practise .

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@msolga,

msolga wrote:

I believe transporting live animals (whether in cattle or sheep) by sea (sometimes for weeks or months) is indefensibly cruel, allowing treatment of animals which would be illegal in Australia.

I don't know about indefensible, but it certainly is a miserable situation for the animals - crowded and, if they're lucky, open to the elements through the bars in the cage. It's even worse during the summer monsoon in the northern Indian Ocean - the wind and sea come from the southwest and the ship's course to the Gulf is north-northwest - a quartering sea, with 20 degree rolls port & stbd, and significant pitching, 24 hours/day, even on a large ship. The seas off the northwest shelf of Australia are also equally bad. I certainly hated it (however the time ashore in Perth made it worthwhile).

1 Reply

@farmerman,

The problem is, apparently countries which have been Australia's traditional market for halal meat have required that the animal be killed on the day it is to be consumed. Which has led to the horrific cruelty of the live export trade.
The RSPCA & animal welfare groups have been campaigning against it for years now.
My preference would be for humane halal-approved killings at a location close to where the animals are reared. Then for the meat to be frozen & exported. Apparently this is what has been the practice in the NZ trade to Muslim countries, yet the Australian meat exporters claim that our Muslim importers won't accept it. It doesn't make sense to me at all.

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@msolga,

Yeh, most of our Muslim customers were Yemeni , Egyptian, and Lebanese . They also wanted their lambs for specific holiday feasts, and they were always weeks ahead of the actual feast because they would hang and age the lamb with spices that my wife said were not worth discussing. (They used stuff like cinnamon)

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@georgeob1,

Quote:

I don't know about indefensible, but it certainly is a miserable situation for the animals - crowded and, if they're lucky, open to the elements through the bars in the cage. It's even worse during the summer monsoon in the northern Indian Ocean - the wind and sea come from the southwest and the ship's course to the Gulf is north-northwest - a quartering sea, with 20 degree rolls port & stbd, and significant pitching, 24 hours/day, even on a large ship. The seas off the northwest shelf of Australia are also equally bad. I certainly hated it (however the time ashore in Perth made it worthwhile).

George, if you go back to the start of this (long & old) thread I think you might find accounts of live sheep transport which you'd find indefensible yourself.
Sheep dying in transit, developing diseases in the process of the journey, needing to be destroyed at the end of the journey, incredibly harsh conditions ...
A truly awful journey by sea, I agree.

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The shameful Australian practice of live sheep trade.

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