Australia: Exporting animals by ship became an odyssey

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Australia

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Published Feb 16, 2024

Tridge summary

The MV Bahijah, an Australian ship carrying around 14,000 sheep and 2,000 cattle, was forced to return from the Red Sea route due to safety concerns. The livestock, which were loaded in Western Australia, faced a delay in unloading due to strict biosecurity regulations. An attempt to export the animals to Israel was also denied over health and welfare concerns. After a six-week delay, the animals were finally unloaded and relocated. Despite facing criticism, live animal exports remain a crucial part of the Australian economy, with over 673,630 cattle and a significant number of sheep exported in 2023.

Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by a state-of-the-art LLM model and is intended for informational purposes only. It is recommended that readers refer to the original article for more context.

Original content

The MV Bahijah had already been at sea for a few days when the Australian government ordered it back due to safety concerns on the Red Sea route. Instead of in Jordan, the freighter anchored again 24 days later in the port of Fremantle in Western Australia. The approximately 14,000 sheep and 2,000 cattle had been loaded there just over three weeks earlier. However, due to Australia's strict biosecurity regulations, it was not possible to unload the animals immediately, Agra Europe reported. The chairman of the Western Australian Farmers' Association justified this to journalists by saying that the animals were transported in foreign waters on a ship that also transported other cattle. “The resulting biosecurity risks of unloading these animals are not an option,” he said. The sheep and cattle should be treated like foreign livestock and quarantined. Mark Harvey-Sutton, chief executive of the Australian Livestock Exporters Association, described the biosecurity risk as “manageable” ...

Source: Bauernzeitung