The Carte Blanche TV show says: “Facing prolonged loading processes, poor ventilation, stifling heat and overcrowded quarters, some 65,000 sheep will soon be packed onto a mammoth livestock vessel due in the East London harbor later this month. The livestock will be transported for weeks on the high seas, standing in their own filth, with no space to even lie down. Amid methane gas and ammonia accumulating in the cargo hold, this controversial trade deal between South Africa and the Middle East will eventually see millions of our sheep sent abroad.”
The TV show notes the whistleblower footage released by in Australia in 2017 that focused on the Awassi Express but also included footage from the Al Shuwaikh. The Carte Blanche presenter said the footage was so disturbing that it was decided not to show it on the program. He interviews Australian Dr. Lynn Simpson, a former live export veterinarian who has sailed on the Al Shuwaikh and who has been raising the issue of poor welfare on live export ships since 2001. Simpson says when she saw the footage, she was just seeing her experience from 57 voyages repeated.
The controversy surrounding the whistleblower footage continues in Australia – and an Australian Department of Agriculture observer report from a May 2018 voyage of the Al Shuwaikh revealed suffering and death as a result of the vessel’s design and management of livestock on board. The report indicated that for eight days sheep were open mouth breathing, indicating severe heat stress, as they “attempted to gain position around the ventilation vents on all open and closed decks.” Multiple instances of “death by smothering” occurred as a result of this. Heat stress was worsened by “oil fuel heaters being left on during the equator crossing” and poor ship design with “dark colored steel roof surface absorbing radiated heat from above.”
Additionally, the observer noted that water troughs were fouled with manure, particularly towards the end of the voyage when a skeleton crew were available to attend the livestock due to discharge preparations. There were significant welfare concerns during discharge, with the livestock, vocalizing loudly, left without fresh feed for over 30 hours. Moldy food was observed in the bottom of troughs for both sheep and cattle on numerous occasions. Dusty pellets were also observed, and on some decks this was largely attributed to the workings of the automated feeding system. The observer also noted that during rough weather a ballast tank overflowed into one of the sheep pens.
A Kuwaiti export company is apparently planning to export two consignments of around 70,000 sheep from South Africa to the Middle East this year, followed by 600,000 sheep, goats and cattle annually for the next three to five years.
Shatha Hamade from Animals Australia, says on the Carte Blanche program: “Every animal welfare organization on the planet opposes the live export trade by sea, and for good reason. The inherent suffering and risks in this trade are actually unavoidable.”
Regarding the export voyage planned for departure from South Africa later this month, she says: “I challenge the farmer that might be contracting with the Kuwaiti company, I challenge him to sit down and watch this [whistleblower] footage and talk to me and tell me that he thinks that it’s okay.”
Posted on September 19, 2019 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
“The well-known pain in my chest is back, I can just walk, they can not.”
(Jo-Anne McArthur, photographer and animal welfare investigator)
Activists who exposed animal cruelty to the largest pig farm in France were TROUBLED.
What activists experience when they discover animal agony, you can see in the video!
This is how an activist describes the action in this slaughterhouse:
“The last days I hadn’t found any words for everything that happened, I tried several times to write this post and then deleted the lines again.
Five days ago I participated in the mass action of civil disobedience #OccupyCarrefourand we peacefully occupied one of the largest pig farms in France.
Together with other activists i had my neck chained to the bars of the cages where the pigs are trapped, while other activists documented the terrible conditions to make it available to the public.
We were subjected to the same violence as the animals are every day, we were pushed and beaten by the farmers and I was even hit in the face with an iron bar.
People who use violence against animals on a daily basis do not shy away from violence against humans. While i was chained at the same height as the pigs, I had to look into their eyes the whole time and could hear their screams. But I also had to look into the eyes of my friends – full of fear and grief.
We had to experience what it’s like to be trapped there and were helplessly at the mercy of this violence just like the animals. The other activists tried to protect us with their bodies, but nobody protects the animals.
A young farmer even threatened to shoot us, there was so much hatred in the eyes of these people. We were lucky to be able to leave this cruel place alive again, but the animals are in captivity all their lives and are killed in the end.
Imagine what it is like to be locked up in a small cage for the rest of your life, where you can’t even turn around. Imagine what it’s like when your babies are taken away shortly after birth and you never see them again.
Imagine what it’s like when you can’t run away from violence, when you can’t even try to save your own life.
The animals are born in this hell, they don’t see daylight or sunlight all their lives, they don’t get fresh air and they just vegetate until their day of execution. Humane agriculture or humane killing does not exist in reality.
Let us make conscious choices and end systematic exploitation.
Such cruel conditions are even permitted by law and the police monopolize the use of force that is applied against the people who oppose this system. Police violence and repression thus affects the wrong people, who are free to denounce the bearer of a message instead of responding to the message itself and changing something.
The consumption of dead animals and animal products is not only morally reprehensible, but also ecologically unacceptable as it contributes significantly to the climate – consuming huge amounts of water and energy.
Next time you buy meat or animal products, think of her face. Think of their fate and the suffering they have experienced. Think of the life they could never live just because of your taste. In today’s society, eating meat is no longer a necessity, but a decision. A decision for violence, indifference, suffering and death.
And a decision against compassion, love, respect and freedom. Is this really what we as human beings want to stand for?
The only thing this industry fears so much is the truth and the truth is what we will reveal. Just because something is legal, does not mean it is also right. If there is a law to legitimize and legalize cruelty to animals, exploitation, oppression, discrimination and environmental destruction, then it is our moral duty to disregard these unjust laws.
When injustice becomes accepted, resistance becomes an obligation!
Please reconsider your decisions in the future, you have at least three choices a day. Do not apologize, do something! Become active and speak for the animals, they cannot speak for themselves”.
There’s nothing to comment on, just a lot to think about, and it’s best to make your decision here and today to stop cooperating with this fascist system of exploitation.
This is the meat and milk industry.
It’s time to finish it.
We thank the brave activists very much for their civil courage.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 