The agriculture minister, David Littleproud, told 60 Minutes: The footage was quite harrowing; to be honest it shocked me to the core
CALLA WAHLQUIST: ‘Animal welfare groups say shocking conditions shown in footage of the Australian live export ship Awassi Express in which more than 2,000 sheep died are not uncommon and have been repeatedly reported to the federal regulator… The television footage, filmed covertly by trainee navigator Faisal Ullah and released to 60 Minutes and Animals Australia, shows sheep crammed into dirty pens, panting from heat stress and leaping over each other to access food. It also shows carcasses piled up and in one case thrown overboard, as well as footage of newborn lambs being caught in the bog…
The voyage of the Awassi shown in Ullah’s footage left Fremantle on 1 August with 63,804 sheep on board for Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. About 2,400 sheep, or 3.76% of the total load, died on route, above the mandatory reportable mortality rate of 2%. A routine investigation by the department found the main cause of death was heat stress… the agriculture minister, David Littleproud,… told 60 Minutes the footage was “quite harrowing; to be honest it shocked me to the core”.’ SOURCE…
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