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

the ship is Dutch
**** on them instead


"Rainer Wolfcastle" wrote in message
om...
| Sick *******s.
|
| Anger over 60,000 sheep stranded on ship
| By Nick Squires
| (Filed: 23/09/2003)
|
|
| The Australian government is under growing pressure over a 'ship of
| shame', carrying nearly 60,000 sheep and stranded in the waters of the
| Gulf for weeks, which was refused permission to land.
|
| The fate of the animals, carried by the transporter Cormo Express, has
| gripped Australia and forced the government on to the defensive
| following attacks from animal rights groups and the opposition.
|
| It has been issuing daily statements on the animals' welfare, claiming
| that they have gained weight since leaving Australia.
|
| The agriculture minister, Warren Truss, said the sheep were reported
| to be in excellent condition by a vet on board the ship. He declined
| to say how many have died.
|
|
| Such issues are still taken very seriously in Australia, a country
| said to have "ridden the sheep's back" to economic prosperity.
|
| The government has faced demands for the animals' immediate slaughter
| after seven weeks aboard ship.
|
| The odyssey began when Saudi Arabia rejected the sheep because six per
| cent had a disease known as scabby mouth, just above the previously
| agreed standard of five per cent. Canberra then offered to give the
| sheep free to the United Arab Emirates. The suggestion was rejected.
|
| Pakistan yesterday became the latest country to refuse to take the
| animals, despite also being offered them free.
|
| "We are grateful that they considered giving as a gift that huge
| quantity to Pakistan, but we cannot accept unhealthy sheep," said the
| farm minister, Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind.
|
| In Australia, opposition MPs and animal rights activists say the
| sheep, enduring temperatures of more than 100F, should be put down
| humanely as "the best of a terrible range of options". Otherwise the
| ship will become a "floating charnel house".
|
| Critics acknowledge that slaughtering the sheep would involve huge
| problems, including how to dispose of the dead animals at sea.
|
| Bob Brown, the leader of Australia's minority Green Party, said: "To
| put 57,000 sheep through a mincer and into the ocean isn't a very good
| environmental outcome."