In 2008, 4.2 million sheep were exported to the Middle East, and 35,000 animals died on the ships. Since the live trade started in 1981, over 2.5 million sheep have died en route.
About 50% of the casualties die because they stop eating. Sheep used to eating grass or hay may refuse to eat the pellets provided on ships. Other problems include infections, diarrhoea and injuries. The dusty environment can cause eye problems that lead to blindness. As far back as 1985, a Senate Select Committee on Animal Welfare concluded that on animal welfare grounds the live export trade should be stopped.
The journey for sheep begins long before they are loaded onto ships. They can travel many hundreds of kilometers in trucks before reaching the dock. Ships can carry up to 100,000 sheep, and they spend up to 3 weeks in the cramped conditions on board. Rough seas or hot, humid conditions in the Middle East make the voyage even more unpleasant, sometimes deadly.
Imagine facing a storm at sea locked in one of the sheep pens on the Al Kuwait. Sheep pant in the extreme heat of the Middle East.
Disasters at sea cost many lives
Apart from 'normal' deaths, there have been disasters which cost tens of thousands of lives. In 1980, and again in 1996, sheep ships caught fire and a total of over 100,000 sheep either burned to death or drowned. In 1981 and 1990, ventilation systems in ships failed and close to 20,000 sheep died of heat stroke. In 1985, 15,000 sheep died of heat exhaustion. In 1989-1990 and again in 2003, Saudi Arabia refused to accept sheep shipments. Sheep were stranded at sea for many weeks, and up to 10% died.
Dead sheep in the ocean after the Uniceb was abandoned. Piles of dead sheep on a ship (www.all-creatures.org).
Cruelty in the Middle East
Sheep suffer further distress after unloading. Some are transported directly to slaughterhouses, some are kept in feedlots, and some are sold for home slaughter. It can be 50°C, and around 3% of sheep in feedlots die. Sheep for home slaughter are dragged, tied and stuffed into car boots or onto roof racks. There are very few if any laws to protect animals in Middle Eastern countries.
Photos by Animals Australia
Exporters proudly announced at the end of 2008 that buyers of sheep for the Festival of Sacrifice in Bahrain were not allowed to transport sheep in the boot. However, other methods of transport, such as being tied on the back of trucks, are almost as bad and would not be tolerated in Australia.
In the Middle East, sheep have their throat cut while they are fully conscious, so they feel terrible pain and the terror of bleeding to death. Australia has no control over how animals are treated in other countries.
Home slaughter in a toilet in Kuwait. Animals Australia investigator Lyn White in the foreground.Fully conscious sheep dragged by the leg to slaughter in Oman. Photos by Animals Australia
Loss of jobs in Australia
The Australian Meat Industry Employees Union is opposed to live animal export because it has lead to the closure of slaughterhouses in Australia. The AMIEU says that over the past 20 years around 150 regional meat processing plants have closed due to a shortage of sheep for slaughter. A report by Dr Heilbron, a respected senior business economist, concluded that the live export trade cost Australia around $1.5 billion in lost GDP, $270 million in household income and 10,500 lost jobs. When meat processing workers lose their jobs, families may have to move and no longer support the economy of rural towns. There is a widespread effect when jobs are transferred from Australia to the Middle East.
Meat export - a more humane alternative
Sheep could be exported as chilled or frozen carcasses, saving the sheep the suffering of a long voyage and slaughter in the Middle East. Australia has around 40 halal export slaughterhouses, overseen by Muslim officials licensed by importing countries. Islamic leaders in Australia allow electrical stunning of sheep before slaughter so that the sheep is unconscious when the throat is cut. Electrical stunning meets Islamic laws because the animal is still alive and is unmarked.
Sheep with legs tied at an Egyptian market. Sheep being dragged by the ears in Dubai. Photos by Animals Australia
Australia's total meat exports are worth far more than live sheep exports. The following are dollar values for total exports in 2008-9:
- Chilled and frozen lamb $966 million
- Chilled and frozen mutton $499 million
- Live sheep $340 million
In 2008-9, 1/5th of all chilled Australian lamb exported and 1/3rd of all chilled mutton exported went to the Middle East, with a value of over $355 million dollars, more than the value of live exports.
Middle Eastern countries already buy a lot of refrigerated meat. The Kuwait Livestock Transport and Trading Company, which is a major importer of live Australian sheep, sells frozen microwavable meals made from these sheep. These products could have been manufactured in Australia. It is a myth that these oil-rich countries don't have refrigerators.
The Senate Select Committee on Animal Welfare back in 1985 recommended that the Australian Government "promote and encourage the expansion of the refrigerated sheep meat trade to the Middle East and other countries , with the aim of eventually substituting it for the live sheep trade." The cruel live sheep trade must stop.
For more information on the export of sheep, as well as goats and cattle go to the Animals Australia site. For historical information go to the file from the original Animal Liberation web site.
Download a leaflet: Sheep suffer in live export
Have a look at these photo and video galleries:
May 2010
