Stranded Australian sheep in Eritrea

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Stranded Australian sheep find a home

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AUSTRALIA: October 27, 2003

 

 

SYDNEY - After months at sea and unwanted by dozens of nations on health

grounds, the African nation of Eritrea has agreed to take a shipment of

52,000 Australian sheep, the Australian government says.

 

 

 

The sheep were being unloaded at the Eritrean port of Massawa on Friday

after the Dutch-owned ship carrying the sheep, the Cormo Express, was

secretly turned around in recent days during a trip back to Australia.

 

" It's all signed, sealed and delivered, " a spokesman for Australian

Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said on Friday. " It's a huge relief " .

 

Eritrea issued an import permit for the sheep on Friday after the two

countries signed a memorandum of agreement on October 16, Truss later told

reporters.

 

Unloading at the port of Massawa ends an 80-day sea voyage that began on

August 6 and has been a huge embarrassment for the Australian government.

Under the deal, Australia donates A$1 million to the African country for

unloading, transport, holding and slaughter costs and provides 3,000 tonnes

of free feed.

 

The sheep were rejected by Saudi Arabia in late August on the disputed

grounds that six percent were infected with scabby mouth disease.

 

More than 30 countries then refused to accept the sheep, which Australia had

to buy back from the Saudi purchaser for A$4.5 million.

 

" It is very satisfying we were able to find a destination for the sheep

within a few days sailing of where the ship was recently re-provisioned, "

Truss said on Friday.

 

Eritrea's agriculture minister, Arefaine Berhe, welcomed the shipment.

 

" We have put in place unloading, transport, holding and distribution

arrangements that will ensure the welfare of the animals, " he said in a

statement released in Canberra.

 

Australia and Eritrea said inspections showed the sheep were healthy and

safe for human consumption.

 

NO HALT IN LIVE TRADE

 

Australian farm groups had warned that after being packed on the 11 decks of

the Cormo Express for three months, the sheep would be unable to leave the

ship on all fours and would likely be covered in their own excrement.

 

The incident touched off an international furore over Australia's A$1

billion a year livestock trade, with animal rights activists calling for

humanitarian slaughter of the sheep at sea and an end to the trade.

 

Truss said a review of the booming trade, which ships six million sheep and

one million live cattle a year to unrefrigerated wet markets across the

Middle East and Southeast Asia, would go ahead.

 

Suspended exports to Saudi Arabia, the biggest market for live sheep

totalling 1.8 million head in 2002, would resume only when safe, he said.

 

The final cost of keeping the sheep at sea, to be borne by the Australian

livestock trade through a levy on future exports, was estimated at around

A$10 million, Truss said.

 

A total of 5,581 sheep, or nearly 10 percent of the total of around 58,000,

had died during the journey, Truss said.

 

Australian authorities say most died from heat and exhaustion while being

inspected at the Saudi port of Jeddah.

 

 

Story by Michael Byrnes

 

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE