A Saudi bought the sheep b4 they left Aus, and organised the shipping,

the ship is Dutch
**** on them instead

After they left Australia there isnt much the Aus govt can do legally execpt
complain

"Rainer Wolfcastle" wrote in message
om...
| "Frank Booth" wrote in message
...
|
| http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...082991895.html
|
| Sick cruel Aussie *******s. 60,000 sheep dying on a ship due to
| fu*king stupid Aussie morons.
|
|
| The MV Cormo Express has become the Tampa of the live sheep export
| trade. Unable to land at their destination of Saudi Arabia, more than
| 50,000 Australian sheep, loaded in early August, yesterday remained in
| search of a third country to take them for money, or free.
|
| Their sorry tale - seven weeks on the sea so far, rather than a
| fortnight's trip - has raised fresh questions about Australia's
| billion-dollar live animal export industry, which regularly causes
| thousands of deaths and inflicts suffering that would not be tolerated
| onshore.
|
| In the face of this, what does Agriculture Minister Warren Truss say?
|
| He quotes the on-board vet, saying the sheep - apart from about 3800
| that have died - have put on weight. As the RSPCA's Hugh Wirth says,
| it makes it sound like they're "enjoying some Mediterranean cruise".
| They might be getting heavier, but it is not because they're living
| comfortably or normally.
|
| The Government refused to say where the ship was - until the media
| found it near Dubai - claiming publicity doesn't help the hunt for a
| country to take them.
|
| Nor did it want to give mortality figures, fearing it would get locked
| into running a daily death watch. Releasing figures was left to the
| ship's owners.
|
| Truss has also condemned "unsympathetic reporting of the issues. For
| commentators, reporters or animal liberation activists to paint the
| situation in any way that is likely to undermine the confidence of
| potential buyers is not helpful to the welfare of the sheep."
|
| Is he serious? Is he really saying yet another cruel disaster in the
| livestock export industry should be hushed up?
|
| It is not as though this is an isolated incident, as shown by a glance
| through the October 2002 report from Truss's Independent Reference
| Group on the trade.
|
| Truss asked for more advice from this group - which had recommended a
| much tighter regime more than two years before - after a spate of bad
| incidents.
|
| The mortality rates during seven voyages last year - all but one to
| the Middle East - we February, MV Norvantes (bound for Jakarta) 99
| cattle (8.5 per cent); June, MV Becrux 880 cattle (44 per cent) and
| 1418 sheep (2 per cent); July, MV Corriedale Express 6119 sheep (11
| per cent); July, MV Al Messilah 2173 sheep (3 per cent); July, MV Al
| Shuwaikh 5800 sheep (7 per cent); July, Cormo Express 1064 (2 per
| cent); and September, Al Shuwaikh 2304 sheep (4 per cent).
|
| The group saw these as "evidence of systematic failures within the
| whole live animal export program". It pointed particularly to
| shipments originating from Portland, where the animals were poorly
| prepared for voyages.
|
| It also said that while some reforms had been made since its February
| 2000 recommendations, neither industry nor the regulators had been
| ready for the "cultural change" required. In other words, a lot of
| feet had been dragged. When the sheep arrived, Saudi officials claimed
| scabby mouth (against which sheep are now twice vaccinated) was above
| the accepted limit - a conclusion rejected by the Australian vet.
|
| Tempting as it might be to look for a political motive, there is no
| evidence of this. The Saudis have a record of turning away shiploads.
| The live sheep trade to Saudi Arabia resumed only in 2000 after more
| than a decade's suspension by Australia; this had followed shipments
| being refused on health grounds.
|
| The great concern, on the Government's part, is that if there is too
| much hoo-ha over these sheep, the whole trade will be put in jeopardy.
| It is worth $200 million to Australia in exports to Saudi Arabia. It's
| the risk of a dangerous backlash that's prompted the Government to
| intervene in a private transaction, frantically searching for a
| destination, even though the sheep, with a Saudi owner, are no longer
| Australian sheep but Saudi refugees.
|
| Already exports to Saudi Arabia have been suspended until this is
| sorted out. The Government couldn't afford the spectacle of further
| ships drifting about.
|
| There are now two issues: what should be done with these animals? And,
| is this trade too inhumane to be pursued?
|
| Wirth argues that the Government won't be able to find a port for the
| sheep and it's impractical to bring them home, so they should be
| progressively put down.
|
| But the Australian Veterinary Association, in a rather harrowing news
| release yesterday, said mass slaughter could be "an animal welfare and
| environmental disaster". "There will be thousands of litres of blood",
| it said; animal rights groups "have not considered that the sheep may
| have to watch the slaughter, nor have they considered the welfare of
| the people who would have to carry this out".
|
| Both the Government and the industry argue against putting down the
| sheep, still hopeful a destination can be found. The Government
| doesn't want the sheep repatriated, because it's a long voyage and
| there are quarantine difficulties; the ship's owners have canvassed
| the possibility of returning them to Fremantle, although they'd much
| prefer to offload them regionally.
|
| Greens senator Bob Brown yesterday called for the ship to be ordered
| back at once, saying any quarantine problems are Truss's. Meanwhile
| Australian authorities are trying to continue negotiations with the
| Pakistanis, despite their saying they won't take the sheep.
|
| Animal rights advocate Peter Singer, who calls for euthanasia in this
| case, insists the entire live trade is a "disgrace" that should be
| stopped.
|
| "It's a terrible ordeal for the animals at the best of times. They
| have a nightmare voyage, and then they get treated brutally after they
| land, as if they were just sacks of wheat rather than living, feeling
| animals. Every year or two, there is another major scandal . . . The
| federal minister says that he will implement reforms, but then . . .
| the same thing, or something worse, happens again."
|
| The RSPCA opposes the live export industry, but Wirth recognises that
| neither side of politics will end it. But he wants much more control
| over it.
|
| So does the Australian public. Even if Truss can solve the Cormo
| Express problem quickly, what has happened in this and many other
| instances should weigh on our conscience.