Vic: Protest sheep to set sail for Middle East

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2003
Vic: Protest sheep to set sail for Middle East

By Cath McAloon

MELBOURNE, Dec 5 AAP - More than 70,000 sheep at the centre of a live export protest
will begin their journey to the Middle East tomorrow after being held up for two weeks
amid contamination claims.

The sheep, which are bound for the halal-conscious Muslim markets, have been kept at
feedlots near Portland in Victoria's south-west at an estimated cost of $50,000 a day
while authorities investigated claims Animal Liberation activists fed them pig meat.

The state's chief veterinary officer Hugh Millar said test results received today confirmed
one feeding paddock containing 1,800 sheep had been contaminated with shredded ham.

Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) spokesman Carson Creagh said the 1,800
affected sheep had been slaughtered at a local abattoir for human consumption.

He said the other 73,000 sheep had been inspected and given export clearance after
authorities received assurances from the Kuwait government the livestock would be accepted.

"It's unfortunate that they (the affected sheep) can't be exported with the remainder
of the consignment as a result of Animal Liberation's stunt, but there's no reason why
they can't be fit for human consumption," Mr Creagh said.

A spokesman for the port of Portland confirmed the unaffected sheep had started being
loaded onto livestock carrier Al Shuwaikh this morning.

Loading is expected to be completed tomorrow, with the vessel, bound for Kuwait, likely
to sail out of Portland late tomorrow afternoon.

Livestock industry body LiveCorp welcomed the movement of sheep but said farmers and
others affected by the delays would pursue legal action against the activists responsible.

"Perpetrators should be made to compensate our Australian farmers for the loss of these
1,800 sheep and the cost of delays estimated at $50,000 a day," Mr Shiell said.

Adelaide-based Animal Liberation spokesman Ralph Hahnheusser has been charged over
the incident and will face a Portland court next month.

Mr Hahnheusser today called on the government to make public a contingency plan detailing
what would happen to the sheep if they weren't accepted on arrival in Kuwait.

He said there were concerns livestock aboard the Al Shuwaikh may suffer a similar fate
to the 57,000 sheep on the Cormo Express that was turned away by Saudi Arabia in August
on health grounds and spent two months sailing around the Middle East looking for a buyer.

"We had a situation where Warren Truss was lying to the Australian public about what
was happening," Mr Hahnheusser said.

"What we have seen is a government that is so keen to continue with the live export
trade that it is recklessly allowing shipments to continue without being publicly accountable
to what the contingency plans are."

Mr Hahnheusser said activists did not plan to protest the ship's departure.

A spokesman for Mr Truss said the government accepted assurances from the Kuwait government
that the sheep would be accepted.

He said the sheep were healthy and met religious and cultural requirements and the
government had worked hard to get assurances from the Kuwait government, including a signed
religious edict, attesting to the acceptability of the animals.

AAP clm/dk/cbs/br

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