WAV Comment – Better late than never ! – but we shall see exactly what benefit the animals get from this; or again is it just EU Yukspeak for actually doing nothing ?

• we, along with many others, have been exposing this disgusting abusive business for many years – see more at   https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/about-us/ 

 

https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/ep-committee-inquiry-mandated-deeply-investigate-animal-transports

 

EP Committee of Inquiry mandated to deeply investigate animal transports

19 June 2020

News

 

Today the European (EU) Parliament approved the setting up of a Committee of Inquiry on live transport.

This is the first Inquiry approved by the EU Parliament in this legislative mandate and the third one approved since its establishment. The Committee will examine the responsibilities of the EU Commission and the EU Member States in implementing and enforcing the Union rules. Such a committee will also be an important step towards making the revised Transport Regulation an effective tool to protect the welfare of the animals transported within and outside the EU.

With 605 out of 689 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in favour   the EU Parliament approved the formation of a Committee of Inquiry to look into the implementation and enforcement of the Council Regulation 1/2005 (Transport Regulation) across the EU and beyond. This is good news for the millions of animals that every year are transported alive in critical conditions, as revealed by more than 200 investigations since 2007. Also the EU Commission, that in the past three years conducted several audits on animal welfare during transport, revealed major animal welfare problems and low levels of compliance.

The call for this Committee of Inquiry on live transport came from 183 MEPs who were renewing the request already made in 2018.  At that time, the Conference of Presidents concluded that an Implementation Report was more appropriate to deal with this matter than a Committee of Inquiry. Voted for by the EU Parliament in February 2019, that Report highlighted key issues to be addressed and, among others issues, it recommended the EU Parliament to establish a Committee of Inquiry on the welfare of animals during transport for a more in-depth analysis.

Today with its favorable vote, the Plenary agreed on the setting up of such a committee to assess the major barriers currently impeding the enforcement of the Transport Regulation, as well as examining the responsibilities of the EU Commission and the EU and Member States in enforcing and implementing the rules.

“Since its foundation, Eurogroup for Animals has been working on live transport with the EU institutions and stakeholders across the EU, and today we welcome this Parliamentary decision – says Reineke Hameleers, CEO of Eurogroup for Animals. This Committee will conduct a long overdue in-depth investigation into the system and it will contribute to making the new Transport Regulation an effective tool to protect the welfare of the animals transported within and outside the EU ”.

Indeed, such a Committee will also be instrumental in the framework of the revision of the Transport Regulation – announced in May by the EU Commission – by highlighting shortcomings of the current legislative framework that should be addressed by a revision. 

 

END

 

 

With deep sadness for a true, dedicated animal friend.

 

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/06/20/the-longtime-activist-reagan-russel-was-killed-while-protesting/ 

 

 

 

Federal Court In Australia Permits Live Export Of 56,000 Sheep To The Middle East Despite A “Ban” Already In Place

 

By

Lauren Lewis

–

June 17, 2020

 

https://worldanimalnews.com/federal-court-in-australia-permits-live-export-of-56000-sheep-despite-to-the-middle-east-despite-a-ban-already-in-place/

 

Today, there are over 50,000 more reasons to be outraged and appalled by the horrendous conditions animals are subjected to during live exports. The latest travesty involves the ongoing plight of Animals Australia to save 56,000 sheep from this barbaric practice.

“As many of you know, new laws designed to protect animals from suffering on board live export ships in the searing summer months came into effect two weeks ago,” noted a post on the organization’s Facebook page earlier this week. “Sadly, they have just failed their first test, with the industry regulator granting an exemption that will allow thousands of sheep shipped in boiling conditions.”

 

 

 

Animal’s Australia and their legal team secured an urgent trial in the Federal Court in a bid to challenge the decision-making process. Sadly, yesterday, their case was dismissed, leaving the sheep victim to the live export process where they will either cruelly die on the ship or be slaughtered for their meat when they arrive in the Middle East.

“Animals Australia accepts the Federal Court’s decision, but we are, of course, disappointed. Our position remains that had the Department had all available expert evidence before it, this exemption would not have been granted,” Animal Australia’s Lyn White said in a statement, noting that the reason the legislation was introduced was to ensure commercial interests were no longer put before animal welfare. “There are no exceptional circumstances that justify knowingly putting 50,000 sheep at risk of heat stroke.”

The June 1st halt in live sheep shipments to the Middle East was implemented based on extensive scientific reviews that concluded that measures cannot be taken to sufficiently mitigate the risk of heat stress during June.

 

“The summer halt is in line with the industry’s own northern summer moratorium. They cannot have it both ways; animal welfare either matters or it doesn’t,” concluded White. Applying for an exemption that will result in inescapable and inevitable animal suffering indicates that animal welfare does not matter to them in this case.

The fight to save sheep and other animals from having to experience the horrors of live export in the summer must continue. Their lives depend on it!

 

 

Please urge the Australian Minister for Agriculture, David Littleproud, to demand that Australian laws be put in place to stop animals being subjected to live exports now! SIGN HERE!

You can help all animals and our planet by choosing compassion on your plate and in your glass. #GoVeg

 

 

 

 

19/6/20.

From RSPCA Australia:

 

Dear Mark,

For those of us who care about the welfare of Australian farm animals, it has been a tough couple of weeks

The live animal export issue has reared its ugly head once again. Is there any industry that’s as disaster-plagued as this one?

Once again, the Government has decided in favour of supporting this volatile industry, over our own laws and against the will of the majority of Australians.

Once again, animals will suffer in the hands of this industry, and pay the price for their reckless approach to animal welfare.

Time and again, we are disappointed, and frustrated, and gobsmacked by what this industry is allowed to get away with. Unfortunately, the Government (and the very elected politicians who fought for those basic safeguards) backflip whenever the carrot of live exporter profits follows the stick of animal cruelty.

But there are some silver linings to this dark cloud.

Every incident that happens, and every action you take, is another chip away at this industry, adding to its horror public track record, of decades of repeated evidence of suffering and cruelty.

We had a measure of success in the northern summer ban, a measure we could not possibly have foreseen before the notorious Awassi Express journeys of 2017 blasted a long-overdue spotlight on the routine heat stress, suffering and death this industry was willing to inflict upon Australian sheep.

There were no plans or intentions to include an independent observer on this ship, but thanks to your efforts, there is one on board now. With your support, we wrote to politicians to urge attention to this issue, we kept phoning and emailing the department, and we saw multiple people speaking out in favour of our call (including the WA Premier himself).

While we sadly weren’t able to stop the ship from leaving, at least there’s someone on board now who can record the consequences of this absurd decision. We’ll be keenly awaiting their reports, images and video evidence.

And now we can also let you know that we’ve submitted a formal animal welfare complaint to the West Australian Government. The evidence of the suffering these sheep are likely to endure is overwhelming, and we believe it may be in breach of WA’s animal protection legislation.

This ship should never have been allowed to leave.

This has been an extraordinary chain of actions and decisions by the regulator, and we will continue to work over the coming weeks and months to find out how it has unfolded and to ensure it can never happen again.

Finally, regardless of the outcome for this shipment, we believe that – much like those five disastrous journeys of the Awassi Express in 2017 – this latest debacle may be a turning point for this disaster-plagued industry.

The failure of the federal government to uphold even its own regulations, despite its knowledge of the dangers;

The failure of live exporters to adhere to their own promised moratorium, introduced as a last-ditch measure to avoid a total ban;

And the strange chain of events that led to this surprise exemption decision, may prove to be the final blow to any remaining public trust or confidence in the industry or the regulators.

Industries cannot survive without community support, and the RSPCA believes this latest live export fiasco is likely to have significant long-term consequences for the industry, and may in fact expedite the inevitable end to live sheep exports.

As always, thank you for your efforts.

The RSPCA Australia team.

 

 

WAV Comment:

As with Animals Australia, the RSPCA Australia, and (here) the crew at Stop Live Exports.org, we are united in our support for everyone who is fighting this disgusting trade in sentient beings.

Below; in ‘What to do now’; SLE have given a series of things which you can do to follow up the Al Kuwait shipment which took place yesterday. The vast majority of good people are against the abusers who undertake this business; and they know public opinion is against them vastly.

We currently are still fighting live animal exports here within the EU and there is also the case of live calves being exported by the Scottish, via the English port of Ramsgate.

Decent people around the world are wholeheartedly against this abusive trade in live animals. We are proud to be pert of the team and do what we can to support the innocent animals that need us more than ever.

Please take actions as detailed in the ‘what to do now’ links below. Phone, e mail, anything, but please do something. The sheep are on the way to terrible deaths in a foreign land now; and sadly there is nothing much which can now be done to help them. But politics is politics; and politicians need your votes and your support. Please don’t support any political parties or politicians who support this trade – and let them know it ! – they can run but they cannot hide. They will always be remembered as abusive supporters of an abusive trade.   Get them our of their positions; and soon.

 

Regards Mark

 

 

Dear Mark;

As you may or may not be aware, we held a flash protest down at the port yesterday evening as the Al Kuwait loaded 35,000 sheep bound for Kuwait, 17 days after the 1 June deadline. If you were able to make it down there to join us, thank you. If the notice was too short or you didn’t hear about it (or you’re in another state or territory), we’re sorry – due to the CoViD19 restrictions, we had to apply for a police permit and were also awaiting the results fo Animals Australia’s federal court action to apply for an injunction to stop the ship loading.

 

All pictures – Renee Denys

 

On 2 June, an exemption to the Northern Summer Trade moratorium was denied to Emanuel Exports’ sister company, Rural Export & Trading WA (RETWA), by Tina Hutchence, Assistant Secretary to the Live Export branch of the federal Department of Agriculture (the branch that acts as the “Independent” Regulator of the trade). A second application was received by RETWA, and on Saturday 13 June, an exemption was granted by David Hazlehurst, Deputy Secretary of the federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE).

 

How this all came about and the legislation and rules for exemptions is a long and convoluted story I won’t go into here, but needless to say, the federal government legislated the northern summer ban to offer some protection to sheep being sent into the Middle East, with a ban on shipping sheep there from 1 June to 14 September inclusive. They then proved that legislation useless, by granting an exemption to RETWA’s parent company, Kuwaiti Livestock Transport & Trading (KLTT), despite there being no exceptional circumstances to merit such an exemption.

 

 

WHAT TO DO NOW ?

 

 

At the rally, we asked you to do six things:

1/ Email Tina Hutchison who denied the exemption, and say THANK YOU for upholding the legislation and looking after the welfare of the sheep by denying the original application for an exemption:

tina.hutchison@agriculture.gov.au

 
2/ Email David Hazlehurst and let him know what you think of his decision, and what a mockery it has made for the Summer Trade Ban Order 2020. Be firm, honest, but please do not use threats or physical violence or resort to name-calling.

35,000 sheep will be heading out of 21 degrees Fremantle and into 45+ degree Kuwait to have their throats cut whilst fully conscious after it had already been found ELEVEN days ago that exporting them after the deadline posed significant risks to their welfare:

 

 

david.hazlehurst@agriculture.gov.au

 

 

3/ Have a chat with David Littleproud. Whilst it was his decision to grant the exemption, and it was under his watch the more restrictions to the trade were introduced, we feel he should know how the public feels about this horrendous decision by the Deputy Secretary:

Parliamentary Office: (02) 6277 7190

David.Littleproud.MP@aph.gov.au

He also has THREE electoral offices in Queensland:
(07) 46622715
(07) 4622 7166
(07) 4661 2494

 

 

4/ Email the CEO of the Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC), Mark Harvey-Sutton.

ceo@livexcouncil.com.au

Tell him to get a real job that doesn’t involve subjecting animals to pain and suffering.

 

 

5/ Leave feedback on the DAWE website. Oops – that page has been removed since this yesterday… we wonder if the phone number still works. Call 1800 900 090

 

 

6/ Contact your local federal MP and all 12 WA Senators (or Senators in your state or territory). Go HERE,
scroll down and enter your postcode. That will bring up your local MP and all your Senators – click on the email icon, or call them if you prefer that.

Let them know what you think – they are elected to represent YOU.

Thank you for your ongoing support, and if you are not a member or donor yet, you can make a one-off, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual donation via GiveNow by credit card or direct debit and the fees are about 1/10 of PayPal. Regular small donations are of the greatest assistance to our campaign. Any donation over $25 in a year counts as membership and we’ll send you some stickers if you’re a new member.

https://www.givenow.com.au/stopliveexports

Help us help them.

 

Katrina Love
Campaign Manager
Stop Live Exports