Call for live animal trade ban after TV footage of dying sheep

Bill Shorten condemns footage of dead sheep on export ships as he offers bipartisan support for a crackdown | GRAPHIC IMAGES

Bill Shorten has labelled the treatment of sheep by parts of the live cattle industry a “national disgrace” as he offered bipartisan support to crackdown on “shonks” in the sector.

The Opposition Leader said footage released to 60 Minutes was appalling as he called for a new agency that would give more regulation to the industry.

“I think most Australians don’t think that should be happening and certainly were not aware it’s happening now,” Mr Shorten said.

“There can be no doubt that animal welfare has gone backwards under the last five years of the Liberal government.

“We will work with the government because this sort of issue should be above politics. What we also would like the government to do is to put on notice some of the shonks and cheats in the industry that business as usual is unacceptable to the Australian people.”

.@billshortenmp: Anyone who saw the live export footage last night would have been appalled.

There can be no doubt that animal welfare has gone backwards over the last five years of Liberal government.

MORE: https://t.co/pYTaY26h2K #SkyLiveNow pic.twitter.com/qpkHzSRv2E

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 9, 2018

The South Australian RSPCA has joined federal MP Andrew Wilkie in calling for a permanent ban on exporting live sheep to the Middle East after disturbing footage prompted outrage from farmers and animal welfare groups.

The footage, leaked by a whistleblower to the 60 Minutes, showed dehydrated, distressed, dead and dying sheep aboard a ship headed from Perth to the Middle East in August. It was the same ship revealed last week as the vessel on which more than 2400 sheep died during a Persian Gulf heatwave.

“Based on current evidence, the federal government must now exercise its legal and moral duty to permanently stop issuing permits for the export of live sheep to the Middle East,” RSPCA spokeswoman Rebekah Eyers said on Monday.

The footage depicts dead sheep on the boat’s main deck before they are thrown overboard. Other scenes show animals in cramped spaces, visibly weak and lying in their own filth.

Mr Wilkie, the independent member for Denison, said footage was “nothing short of appalling”.

Sheep on board a ship headed to the Middle East.

“We’ve known for years that the worst offenders are these sheep ships travelling to the Middle East, on which animal fatalities are often way beyond government standards and records are routinely falsified,” Mr Wilkie said.

“Surely this is all the proof that this vile trade must be shut down and shut down immediately. To allow this trade to continue is simply unconscionable.”

Simon Westaway, CEO of the Australian Livestock Exporters Council, said the deaths and conditions in which they occurred were “plainly unacceptable”.

Footage of dead and dying sheep were released by a whistleblower.

“We’re committed to further reform and ongoing improvement in terms of animal welfare in our $250 million live sheep trade,” Mr Westaway said.

Sheep Producers Australia president Allan Piggott said sheep producers were angered and disappointed by the failure to uphold animal welfare.

“As sheep producers, we always have high expectations about animal welfare standards and the wellbeing of our sheep,” Mr Piggott said. “We care deeply for the welfare of our animals and want to see this continued after they leave our farm gate.”

The footage has prompted federal MP Andrew Wilkie to call for a ban on the live animal export trade.

The whistleblower who leaked the footage was Faisal Ullah, a 25-year-old graduate of Pakistan’s Marine Academy, a trainee navigation officer on five sheep shipments from Australia last year.

He told 60 Minutes he could not “tolerate the severity of suffering”. “I have seen a lot of really young lambs died, dead,” Mr Ullah said. “They’ve been crushed under the feet of other animals. You know, it’s so distressing.”

With AAP

A trainee navigation officer leaked the footage.