The live export trade is impossible to regulate – article by an Australian campaigning group.
In one of the live export trade’s worst international disasters, about 2,750 cattle have died on the Gracia del Mar on a voyage from Brazil to Egypt. The ship, carrying 5,600 cattle, was refused permission to dock in several Middle Eastern ports because of the dead animals, including Port Said, Djibouti, Sudan and Eritrea, and sailed the Red Sea until it became stranded with the suffering cattle inside…
Read more at:
http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/article/it-could-happen-to-a-heartbeat-to-australian-animals/
~ Suzanne Cass.
Stop Tasmanian Animal Cruelty.
www.stoptac.org www.liveexportshame.com www.aact.org.au
The Australian Greens say…
…[we] are continuing to work with animal welfare activists for a ban on live exports and mandatory pre-slaughter stunning in Australia. We want to see improved and increased processing in Australia to support local producers and jobs.
On Tuesday 13 March in the Senate, I asked the Agriculture Minister what action he or his department has taken to investigate the Temur Petir and Cakung abattoirs in Jakarta following the ABC TV’s Lateline segment. The Lateline footage, showing animal cruelty and serious breaches of the government’s new Export Supply Chain Assurance System, was deeply distressing and demonstrates that very little has changed since Four Corners aired a similar exposé last year.
I pressed Minister Senator Joe Ludwig about the investigation regarding the 61 observed incidents of non-compliance at these abattoirs as identified by the RSPCA Chief Scientist.
Outrageously, the Minister responded by saying the new assurance system provides a pathway for investigating complaints. He said the complaint had been referred to the independent regulator who would then determine a course of action following a thorough investigation.
Meanwhile, animals being exported from Australia are suffering. I moved a motion to call on the Minister to immediately suspend the export licenses of any companies involved in exporting cattle to the Temur Petir and Cakung abattoirs in Jakarta, to bring forward debate on the cruel live export trade.
I encourage you to keep the pressure on government by emailing, calling and visiting Agriculture Minister Senator Joe Ludwig; writing letters to local, state and national newspapers; calling talkback radio; and signing the Greens e-petition to ban live exports. You can keep updated about the Greens’ work on animal welfare here:
www.lee-rhiannon.greensmps.org.au/live-animal-exports