*Pic: The Go Lesath: Photo credit: George Brzeznina
The Statesman: Photo courtesy of George Brzezina
First published April 28
Stop Tasmanian Animal Cruelty is demanding that Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff releases in full the investigation reports into the disastrous cattle shipment from Stanley to Port Welshpool in Gippsland on the Les Dick-owned and operated m/v Statesman, in February 2016. 59 cattle, out of a shipment of 208, either died on the ship or had to be destroyed when the little landing barge arrived in Port Welshpool in Victoria.
‘We were informed at the time that this hopelessly inadequate ‘ship’ set sail into known stormy weather conditions, when other much larger ships chose not to’, said Stop Tasmanian Animal Cruelty’s Suzanne Cass. ‘The reports indicated that massive waves washed over the cattle all night in gale force winds and a heavy swell.
’10 of the cattle were dead on arrival, with another 49 having to be shot because of their injuries and distress, continued Ms Cass. ‘The ship left Stanley on January 30, docking in Port Welshpool in Gippsland some 48 hours later. The cattle, most likely ‘spent dairy cows’, faced on onwards journey all the way to Tongala in Northern Victoria just for slaughter, according to the Mercury report at the time, meaning that the survivors could be in transit with no feed, water or rest for more than 60 hours. And it’s normal practice for these poor old cows because Greenham’s, who owned the cows, will not process these animals within the state’.
Greenhams sends all its spent dairy cows to Tongala for processing into hamburger mince for the US market. Ms Cass noted that jobs could be created in Tasmania if all animals, not only cattle, were processed within the state, meaning a substantial loss to the Tasmanian economy, as well as the undeniably disastrous consequences for the animals’ welfare.
It is reported that the Statesman docked in Victoria at about 10 am, and the Victorian veterinarians did not arrive until about 6pm that evening.
‘Why were these animals left to suffer for so long without treatment? Ms Cass said. ‘As far as I can understand it, the investigations have taken 15 months to be completed; why is that?’
Ms Cass maintains that the Statesman, which has a gross tonnage of 876 tons and its slightly larger ‘sister ship’ the Go Lesath, at 1083 tons, also operated by Les Dick, are not, and never have been fit for the purpose of crossing the notoriously treacherous Bass Strait.
She describes them as little better than ‘floating bathtubs’. There have been other incidents, most recently on the far larger Searoad Mersey, and Ms Cass says that these highlight the inherently dangerous practice of shipping animals across Bass Strait generally.
How many incidents don’t we know about?’ Ms Cass asked. ‘While it’s great that charges have finally been laid 15 months after this catastrophe, the public has a right to know the full details contained within any and all reports, including who has been charged and with what.
‘We don’t want to waste our time doing a Right to Information request for the information, because we were told that when the ABC did such a request about the cruelty at the Murrayfield sheep station on Bruny Island, it took 18 months for it to be processed, meaning that chances of successful prosecutions were remote.
‘We believe that the release of this information is absoutely in the public interest, some of it is common knowledge anyway, and the Minister shouldn’t try to sweep it under the carpet’.
*Suzanne Cass has a Grad. Cert. Professional Legal Studies, an M-PET (Master of Professional Education and Training), a Grad. Cert. Educational Studies, and a Dip. Management and Leadership
