Right now a major animal welfare issue confronts us with the announcement by the Minister of Agriculture, David Carter, that the revolting trade in live sheep shipments to Saudi Arabia for religious sacrificial slaughter may continue, following a six year moratorium which prohibited this.
In a gesture of extreme naivety the Minister noted that ‘live sheep would not leave the country unless there was an assurance of their treatment on the water and when they arrived in Saudi Arabia (a condition that, given the overwhelming reality of both, cannot possibly be guaranteed).
The history of the transportation of live sheep both from New Zealand and Australia is fraught with disasters, which is not surprising as they are transported crammed layer upon layer, stressed, diseased, injured and most of all starving having been uprooted from pastures and fed pellets, which many do not recognise as food. Many deaths are caused through pneumonia, salmonellosis and starvation. The elements including rough seas and extreme temperatures and humidity in the Arabian Gulf add to the horror of the shipboard trip which have resulted in a long list of disasters.
In 1996, 67,000 sheep died on board the ‘Uniceb’ after it caught fire and sank, in 2002 a total of 16,687 sheep died in five different journeys, and in 2003 57,000 sheep spent almost three months stranded at sea on board the ‘Cormo Express’ after being rejected by the Saudi importer.
However the journey is only half their problem ! On arrival they are unloaded in extreme temperatures and suffer seriously rough handling, they are trussed and dragged by a limb, tied onto roof racks or bundled into car boots, as they journey to their place of execution where their throats are unceremoniously cut by untrained individuals. Being on foreign soil New Zealand officials have no jurisdiction over them.
Despite a Neilsen survey conducted in 2008 in which only 26% of New Zealanders supported the live sheep trade, it is abhorrent to us as animal welfarists that the Minister is even contemplating the resumption of this ghastly trade. And so it is now up to us to do what we can by voicing our concerns where it matters, and so I invite each of you to write either by mail or email both to the Prime Minister, and the Minister of Agriculture. Here’s where to send it :
Email : j.key@ministers.govt.nz or write to John Key’s electoral office at Box 258, Kumeu 0841
Email : d.carter@ministers.govt.nz or write to David Carter’s office at Box 28046, Beckenham, Christchurch 8242
Humanity must prevail and you can help it.