Damning Live Export Reports Obtained Through Freedom of Information

Animals Australia has released full details of investigations conducted by the Australian Quarantine Service (AQIS) into high mortality live export shipments during 2006.

• Read the Reports
• Press Releases
• Media Coverage

Cruelty Revealed

The content of these reports, obtained through Freedom of Information, has led Animals Australia to call for exporters who breach industry standards to be prosecuted and be refused further export permits—and for these full reports to be made publicly available.

The release of these damning reports resulted in media headlines throughout Australia 'Live export report 'damning'' reported the Canberra Times; 'Secret reports reveal live export carnage': The West Australian; 'Lobbyists urge charges over live-export deaths': The Age. See media coverage.

As a direct result of media pressure the Australian Quarantine Service (AQIS) has committed to placing subsequent high mortality investigation reports in full on their website. Animals Australia had to previously pay for these reports under the Freedom of Information Act—a process that took 6 months earlier this year.

Live Export Regulations

The Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (ASEL) have requirements such as identifying, treating to or euthanizing sick or injured animals without delay and ensuring sufficient personnel are available onboard ships to ensure the welfare of the animals.

Australia’s live export industry regularly defends its trade by stating that they have the strictest standards in the world—yet these investigation reports into high mortality shipments reveal that breaches of these same standards are leading to the suffering and deaths of thousands of animals each year—without exporters being prosecuted.

On one journey, heat stress, septicaemia from leg wounds, and acute pneumonia led to the deaths of 247 cattle, with a further 200+ cattle died of pneumonia—or shipping fever as the Israeli vets call it—after being unloaded more than 3 weeks after their journey began. The AQIS investigation report states that only 30 to 40 of these animals were euthanized! Read the full press release.

On a shipment of sheep from Tasmania in which 1683 sheep died, sick animals were left untreated due to inadequate staff resources—and AQIS concluded the obvious—that sheep from Tasmania were at higher risk of succumbing to heat stress. As a result, Animals Australia has alerted the Tasmanian government that any further shipments from Tasmania could be subject to prosecution under Section 8 of the Tasmanian Animal Welfare Act.

As AQIS investigations are only conducted into shipments where onboard sheep and cattle deaths are 2% and 1% respectively, no investigations were conducted into the deaths of the remaining 35,000 sheep and over 900 cattle that died onboard ships in 2006.  How many of these animals were treated and euthanized?  

As a result of the information found in the FOI reports, Animals Australia has lodged two cruelty complaints with the WA government alleging breaches of the WA Animal Welfare Act—and is calling for exporters who breach standards to be prosecuted and be banned from obtaining further export permits.

No longer is this an argument just about ethics. If exporters are unable to comply with ASEL standards then this is a legal issues and this trade should be halted—now.

Press Releases

• Further cruelty complaints lodged against live exporters
• FOI report reveals mass deaths on Tasmanian live export shipment

Media Coverage

• Live export report 'damning': the Canberra Times
• Secret reports reveal live export carnage: The West Australian
• Lobbyists urge charges over live-export deaths: The Age
• Live sheep export breached Animal Welfare Act, claim campaigners: ABC News
• Animals Australia claims new evidence damns live exports: Farmonline

Just the Beginning...

Unfortunately, what happens on board the live export vessels is only the beginning of the suffering these Australian animals will have to ensure—it is what happens to the animals after they arrive at their destination which is truly horrific.

After they leave the vessel, in most importing countries there are no laws to protect them from acts of cruelty. Three different investigations by Animals Australia in the Middle East have documented terrible abuses of Australian animals. Sheep are regularly bought by individual buyers for home slaughter. They are trussed with rope and shoved into car boots in a region where temperatures are regularly above 40 degrees in Summer. In abattoirs and private homes sheep face a terrifying slaughter, as their throats will be cut whilst fully conscious.