Our past posts:
Mark, this time last week we were building a case to stop 56,000 Australian sheep being shipped into the furnace of the Northern summer. Within 24 hours we would receive the news that the exporter’s bid to be exempted from new laws prohibiting these dangerous summer shipments had failed… and that not one of those animals would be stepping foot on board a live export ship.
The relief was palpable. But it would be short-lived. You see, the moment this company was turned away from Australia, it headed for South Africa — their sights set on 70,000 sheep they had been blocked from exporting just weeks earlier. And such was their confidence that they could simply sail in and take the animals, they even started loading them onto trucks.
But that’s where their journey would end… because our friends at the NSPCA were waiting. They had sought an urgent injunction from the High Court to stop the animals being loaded onto the vessel, and I’m glad to share the news with you that
THEY WON!
Thanks to your support of our work for animals with the NSPCA, 70,000 sheep are safe from ‘cooking alive’ on a live export ship, for now.
This is a landmark moment for animals, but the reprieve may be temporary because the full case will be heard in mid-July. But we know the team at the NSPCA (South Africa’s peak animal protection body) will give it their all. For now, these animals are safe from live export at the most dangerous time of year — when the risk of ‘cooking alive’ from heat stroke is very real.
As you would know, one of the live export industry’s key PR lines is that if they can’t get animals from Australia, they’ll just go elsewhere. In itself, this shows how little regard for animals they have. Australian authorities have determined that shipping sheep into the Northern summer is cruel and should no longer occur. So what does the live export industry do? What it has done for decades — ignore the science, ignore the evidence, disregard the risks to animals and attempt to carry on live exporting anyway.
What they didn’t count on is that our reach extends far beyond Australia. With your support, we are collaborating with advocates all around the world who, like you and me, are determined to protect animals from this global trade in animal suffering. If they show up in Romania, we are there. If they show up in South Africa, we are there. Wherever live export exists, animals will suffer — wherever live exporters go, we will too.
We are proud to work with and support the legal efforts of our colleagues at NSPCA and are enormously grateful to you for making this powerful collaboration on behalf of the victims of live export possible.
For the animals,
Lisa Chalk
Campaign Director
Animals Australia
World Animals Voice 