SAUDI ARABIA: Animal welfare groups called yesterday for the immediate slaughter of more than 50,000 Australian sheep stranded on a ship in the Gulf, as the Australian government cast about for a port that would take them.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Australia said Pakistan was the third country to turn away the sheep.
Destined for Saudi Arabia, they were rejected on grounds of disease. Around 3,500 of the sheep have died.
"The only way to end the suffering is to have them dead. It's either do it on board or find a port . . . and send them to an abattoir," RSPCA Australia president Mr Hugh Wirth said, pointing to searing summer temperatures in the Gulf.
"It's going to become a floating charnel house soon enough . . . it's really desperate now," he said.
The executive director of the Animals Australia group, Ms Glenys Oogjes, said the ship carrying the sheep, the MV Cormo Express, had a "captive bolt gun" on board which could be used to stun the animals before their throats are cut.
However, she said the gun had only 5,000 to 6,000 charges, which meant more guns or charges would have to be taken to the ship. A less-preferred option would be just to slit their throats.
"A sheep takes up to about seven seconds to bleed out," Ms Oogjes said.
She said the carcasses could then be fed into a destroyer - or macerator - on board, and the remains could be mixed with water before being pumped into the sea in international waters.
Ms Oogjes and the RSPCA's Mr Wirth also called for a ban on Australia's 1 billion Australian dollars ($660 million) annual livestock export trade.
The Australian government disputed the RSPCA figures. It said the sheep were in good health and it was negotiating with unidentified ports to allow them to land.
Australia said it would not end the trade, and blamed the sheep's plight on mistaken rejection by a Saudi official.
Saudi Arabia rejected the sheep in the third week of August because 6 per cent were infected with scabby mouth disease - above an agreed tolerance level of 5 per cent. Australia has said only 0.35 per cent were infected.
The United Arab Emirates later also rejected the sheep.
The Dutch-owned MV Cormo Express was somewhere in the Gulf yesterday. Australian officials would not reveal its next port, fearing publicity could lead other countries to reject the sheep. - (Reuters)