July 28, 2014

Exporter Livestock Shipping Services breaks Australia's animal cruelty rules again

Jordanian-owned Livestock Shipping Services (LSS), one of Western Australia's biggest livestock exporters, could lose its licence to operate after reports of breaching animal welfare laws once again.

The Australia's Department of Agriculture investigators found LSS committed one minor and two major breaches of animal welfare rules, including cattle having their eyes gouged and shooting cattle's legs from under them, reports ABC News.

This is a repeated offence by the company of serious breaches of the ESCAS animal welfare system. Last year, more than 4,000 sheep died from heat stress onboard on a voyage to the Middle East.

By law, Agriculture Department officials are required to consider an animal exporter's track record when it next applies for an export permit.

Livestock Shipping Services says it will co-operate with any recommendations made by the department. In response to non-compliance issues recorded in the UAE: LSS has provided monthly reconciliations of the supply chain since January 2014 and no major issues have been noted since then.

In response to non-compliance issues recorded in Israel: LSS acknowledges animal handling issues during the unloading of livestock. It has noted that the individuals in the video were not members of the MV Ghena's crew or LSS staff. LSS advises that it is the policy of the MV Ghena crew that at no time are officers or crew allowed to stress, hurt or harm livestock at any time during the voyage including unloading. The Department has referred the matter to the local authorities.

In response to non-compliance issues recorded in Gaza: Livestock Shipping Services (LSS) formally advised the Department of Agriculture (DoA) on 5th November 2013 that the company had concerns relating to the integrity of its supply chain in Gaza. Following this, LSS immediately took a number of steps to deal with the possible issues.

The last shipment of livestock exported directly to Gaza was in mid-October 2013. No further shipments have been exported directly to Gaza.