Australian live export animals unconscionably subjected to known risks

Fighting for food

If there is one consistency about the live export trade, it is that the Australian government, populated by indifferent, compromised, and easily bought politicians, has not, and will not, protect Australian farm animals in the live export trade.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) approves all live export voyages based on documentation submitted by exporters. In the 6 month period July to December 2011, the Department conducted just two mortality investigations, in both cases involving animals (sheep and cattle) loaded at the southern port of Portland in Victoria. It is well-settled through years of mortality reports that animals shipped from the southern ports, particularly Portland, are at substantially increased risk of suffering and dying when shipped on long, multi-port voyages, from the Australian mid-winter to the northern hemisphere summer.

These animals had been subjected to cold and wet weather in the Portland feedlot for days before being loaded onto the ships, believed to be the MV Ghena and the MV Al Messilah. This is contrary to the live export industry’s OWN regulations, the Australian Standard for the Export of Livestock V2.3, which states at 3.3 (2) ‘Registered premises operators are responsible for the design, maintenance, security and operation of the premises, including the provision of appropriate shelter, feed and water supply systems’ DAFF appears to have taken no action to enforce compliance upon the feedlot (‘registered premises’) operator to protect these animals even before they leave Australia (note: there is no shade at feedlots in Darwin either).

Why then does DAFF continue to approve these high risk shipments by exporters who consistently engage in lengthy and torturous journeys? It is so well-settled that these animals will die that there is even special provision in the ASEL for Heat Stress Threshold analyses to be provided by the exporter, which, as far as we can tell, is simply a ‘tick and flick’ form in which the exporter says all will be well, and DAFF simply ticks off on the shipment.

What we don’t know is whether there were Tasmanian animals in these ‘consignments’, because the State government says it ‘doesn’t know’, a wholly inadequate response. Once Tasmanian animals cross Bass Strait, all 450,000+ of them, they are effectively counted as Victorian animals in the live export process if indeed they are sent to Portland.

In June 2011, Emanuel Exports shipped 784 Fremantle cattle and 65,203 sheep from both Portland and Fremantle. 28,607 sheep were loaded in Portland, of whom 703 died (more than the ‘acceptable’ 2%). Of the 36,596 sheep loaded in Fremantle, 267 died, but these were not investigated because, for that ‘consignment’, that was a mortality rate of less than 2%. DAFF obfuscates the truth by investigating by ‘consignment’ where there are multiple ‘consignments’ on the one ship rather conducting a rigorous investigation into the voyage as a whole.

A total of 970 sheep died during the gruelling 27 day voyage to Doha, Kuwait and Bahrain. Interestingly, the Mortality report which is presented to Parliament notes 1,006 mortalities, so once again we have sheep simply unaccounted for.

Also in June 2011, Livestock Shipping Services shipped 9,000 cattle and 46,510 sheep on an exhausting 37 day voyage to Turkey, from Portland and Fremantle. The report to Parliament states that this was a 34 day journey. Of the 5,022 cattle loaded in Portland, 72 died, and of the 2,914 Portland sheep, 29 died (see our story on this voyage here):

http://oldtt.pixelkey.biz/index.php?/article/suffering-and-dying/

There was no investigation into the deaths of the sheep on the voyage to Turkey, because they were below the ‘acceptable’ 2%, however the report to parliament indicates that 476 sheep died. Yet the investigation report indicates that the figure was 371 – leaving 105 sheep unaccounted for.

Because we continue to find discrepancies in the data relating to these voyages, it is impossible to reply upon figures supplied to the Government by DAFF, or indeed the limited information available to the public about the numbers of animals who die, much less the numbers who suffer so appallingly but survive to meet their horrific fate in importing countries.

On the information available, and by a process of elimination because DAFF will not release data about the ships, we believe that the ship in the 27 day voyage to three Middle Eastern destinations was the MV Al Messilah, built in 1980. The MV Al Messilah, like the MV Ghena which was the subject of the only other DAFF investigation in this 6 month period, is an old converted vehicle transporter. Both ships are fully enclosed, confining the animals in the hulls, which heat up as the ships enter hotter climates. The MV Al Messilah in particular has a lengthy history of detentions in Australian ports by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority for serious defects, as well as multiple mortality investigations.

M/V Al Messilah, built in 1980, faced down by protesters in Devonport in February 2006

In 2002, the MV Al Messilah was investigated with specific reference to animals loaded in Portland, once again on a similar voyage to three Middle Eastern ports, when 2,173 sheep died. 30 per day were dying at the start of the voyage rising to 103 per day. The ‘recommendations’ arising out of that report was that this ship should not load in Portland because of the prevalence of salmonella and other relevant factors (see the report at):

http://www.liveexportshame.com/publications/AFFA_Al_Messilah.htm

In February 2006, the Al Messilah loaded 71,309 sheep in Devonport, Tasmania, amid a storm of protest, and this has to date been the last direct shipment from Tasmania. There were also 786 Victorian cattle on board, of whom 1.88 died, along with 1,683 of the Tasmanian sheep, triggering investigations into both sets of mortalities. (See the report on the sheep here):

http://www.stoptac.org/uploads/File/export/Al%20Messilah%20sheep%20mortality%20report.pdf

And the cattle here:

http://www.animalsaustralia.org/media/foi/foi_info2.php

74,770 sheep were delivered to the ‘registered premises’ at Nook, and 71,309 sheep were loaded, meaning that 3,461 sheep were found to be unfit for the voyage. 1,197 were diagnosed with infectious keratoconjunctivities (pink eye) and were treated with 320 being rejected for this reason, and there was a serious outbreak of this disease shortly after the ship left Devonport. Other sheep were rejected because of lameness or ‘welfare concerns’. Amongst other reports received by protesters at the wharf, it was stated that some of the sheep (up to 50%) were only at the feedlot for a matter of hours to prepare them for the pelletised feed they would receive on the voyage, and that the exporter expected a higher mortality rate than in fact occurred, so there was insufficient feed on the ship, meaning substantial numbers simply starved to death.

In August 2011, the MV Al Messilah broke down shortly after leaving Adelaide, and it has been impossible to identify the precise numbers of sheep involved in FOI data released by DAFF other than to note that 2,519 are simply unaccounted for in the process of unloading the crippled ship, and the reloading of the hapless animals onto the MV Al Shuwaikh and again onto the MV Al Messilah. Emanuel Exports chose the unconscionable option of re-exporting the already severely traumatised animals rather than processing them in Australia.

Cramped, pitiful conditions for the sheep on the MV Al Messilah

Fighting for food

Filthy conditions

Emanuel Exports, and two of its directors, Graham Daws and Michael Stanton, are no strangers to the courts and Mr Daws was also a director of a company called Rural Exports and Trading (WA) when it had its licence suspended in 2003 for three months by the then agriculture minister Warren Truss for concerns over high death rates on export ships to the Middle East on the old ships they use. The three Kuwaiti ships are all old conversions from oil tankers and vehicle transporters. All were prohibited from loading Australian animals in 2009 for non-compliance with Australian Maritime Safety Authority regulations. Daws and Stanton were prosecuted in Western Australia over a 2003 voyage on the 45 year old former oil tanker MV Al Kuwait, but escaped conviction on a constitutional technicality.

More recently, they have been implicated, as yet another identity, International Livestock Exports, in the recent release of further evidence of appalling cruelty in Indonesian slaughterhouses shown on the ABC’s Lateline last month. The same company was behind the MV Cormo Express (later re-named the Merino Express) tragedy of 2003, when the ship sailed throughout the Gulf for 80 days after the sheep were rejected on spurious grounds by Saudi Arabia, then all other Middle Eastern ports, leading to the death of at least 5600 sheep before Eritrea was paid to take the pitiful survivors. (Note CIWF reporters in Eritrea stated that only about 40,000 sheep survived to be unloaded)

So in spite of all the so-called ‘regulatory improvements’, the one consistent aspect of this shameful animal trafficking is that DAFF will continue to expose the animals to shocking risks, and overlook transgressions by exporters. The worst penalties DAFF imposes, despite the deaths of tens of thousands of animals on ships every year, and no matter how serious the infractions, is a requirement for more space, provision of more antibiotics, and that the exporters ‘will (look like they are) complying with the ASEL in the future’. In other words, they continue to ask the exporters nicely to ‘do the right thing’.

Moreover, DAFF knows, and has known for decades, of the even more unconscionable risk of sending animals from the winter in Victoria to the searing Middle Eastern heat on long, multi-port journeys, yet still approves the shiploads of misery to sail.

In the investigation report into the June 2011 Al Messilah voyage, ‘54.0% of the mortalities during the voyage were due to enteritis, 26.6% were due to inanition and 12.4% were due to enteritis/inanition. A further 6.2% were due to heat stress. The remaining mortalities were due to other causes such as pneumonia’. These risks, associated with salmonella, were identified in shipments from Portland as far back as 10 years ago.

But Australian politicians remain deaf to the pleas of 84% of decent, hardworking Australians who continue to call for a ban on this disgraceful trade in animal misery, including those who ‘spoke out’ earlier but then failed to support the Bills brought to Parliament by Andrew Wilkie and Adam Bandt – and have remained silent ever since. To them, we say, ‘talk is cheap’.

In Tasmania, you can lobby House of Representatives members Julie Collins (Franklin), Dick Adams (Lyons), Geoff Page (Bass) and Sid Sidebottom (Braddon), in support of Andrew Wilkie’s (Denison) courageous stance. All Tasmanian Senators other than the Greens (Bob Brown (and warmest wishes for your future, Bob) and Christine Milne back the trade, in the full knowledge of the horrific consequences for the animals. In short, their political self-interest overwhelms any moral considerations. It is time to make your voice heard.

Suzanne Cass
Live Export Shame Tasmania
www.liveexportshame.com
www.stoptac.org

STOPTAC.org

300 rabbits find a new home
300 lucky rabbits have found a new home and a new life

Hundreds of doomed rabbits have been saved from a Tasmanian factory farm.

Two Victorian groups, Freedom for Farmed Rabbits and Radical Rabbit, have joined with Big Ears Animal Sanctuary in the north of the State to rescue the 300 rabbits from an intensive rabbit farm. The Viictorian groups aim to educate the community about the horrors rabbits endure on factory farms.

With support from members, Big Ears Animal Sanctuary a not for profit organisation, has been able to purchase the entire farm system, including the 300 resident rabbits and all the equipment used in the operation of farming rabbits for their meat. Rabbit meat is served in local restaurants and sold as a gourmet product at butchers.

In late March this year, Big Ears Animal Sanctuary welcomed their new residents who had previously been suffering conditions of misery and confinement. The small cages cram in up to 12 rabbits at a time, living on hard wire flooring for years. Rabbits receive ulcerated hocks, abscesses and bite wounds from aggression caused by boredom and frustration.

The rabbits suffer immensely in these factory farms through injury and disease, as seen on Southern Cross News this evening (Sunday 15.04.2012).

‘The rabbit farming industry has a 40% mortality rate, the highest in any Australian agriculture industry and the conditions in which these rescued rabbits had been forced to exist reflects this very graphically’ said Hayley Budrius, spokesperson for Freedom for Farmed Rabbits.

‘The majority of these rabbits would have faced a short life of illness and suffering in one of Australia’s most cruel, yet fast-growing meat supply industries’.

‘After working with rabbits for many years, the closing of this Rabbit Factory goes to show that this questionable industry is not financially viable in Australia and simply cannot cater for the welfare of what are otherwise intelligent, companion animals’, said Karen Vondruska, founder of Radical Rabbit .

President of Big Ears Animal Sanctuary, Jacqui Steele adds, “I am honoured to have these rabbits in my care. It has been fantastic to see that these formerly caged and confined animals have been able to maintain their wild instincts.

‘It is fantastic to see them hopping, digging and eating fresh grass, all of which they had been deprived of in a factory farm’.

It has been a massive job to secure a positive future for these rabbits. Rescue efforts reach as far as Edgars Mission Farm Sanctuary in Willowmavin Victoria. A pair of these lucky rabbits will arrive at the sanctuary early next week. Edgar’s mission will use this rabbit rescue as a chance to educate visitors to the sanctuary on the cruelty behind the rabbit farming industry.

The current condition of many of the rescued rabbits is promising and after they have all been de-sexed, some lucky rabbits will be offered up for adoption, others can be sponsored via Big Ears Animal Sanctuary’s website.

All groups involved in this compassionate rescue of suffering creatures vow to stand strong and protest against the intensive factory farming of rabbits.

All three groups are adamant that rabbit factory farming should be banned in Australia.

StopTAC would like to encourage donations to Big Ears Animal Sanctuary to assist them in the veterinary and other ongoing costs needed to care for these lucky rabbits. You may also choose to sponsor some of the rabbits through Big Ears’ sponsorship program. Donations over $2.00 are tax deductible. We would also like to offer warmest wishes to Jacqui Steele for her recovery.

Big Ears Animal Sanctuary Tasmania
Hayley Budrius – Freedom for Farmed Rabbits Victoria
Pam Ahern – Edgars Mission Willomavin Victoria