Live Export is in Deep Shit.

As many who read my polemics might know, I do not subscribe to the ideas that animals ‘know every word we say” philosophies. To me an animal is a non-sentient creature, and whether for companionship, i.e. a pet, such as a dog or a horse; or for food, a heifer, a bullock, a pig etc. 

They react to certain stimuli, they learn that we are their source of food, and that is the sum of their lives. But while I detest, without exception, the very ideal of ‘love’ between an animal and its owner/trainer, I also detest cruelty towards a dumb animal which usually cannot fight back.

If a farmer runs cattle, either through a milking herd, or for the beef market, it is normal for the farmer to ‘know’ his animals; how they react, how to keep them clean and healthy; how they learn what is expected of them: because if the farmer doesn’t look after his animals correctly, safely and humanely, he will swiftly become bankrupt.

I read about an Australian-flagged cattle carrying ship which has been forced to detour from her passage to an Arabic state; through the Houthi-sponsored attacks on Red Sea Shipping, and, I will admit, that my blood pressure rose, because we have seen this Trade dissected before. 

But the sheer greed exemplified by the loading of over 16,000 animals, condemned to spend a fortnight or more in their own filth because the shippers gain a high price from their Arabic customers for live animals; simply cannot be condemned too much. 

After nearly a month at sea, this ship, which had turned away from the Red Sea and was aimed at docking in Durban, was again diverted back to Australia, berthing in Fremantle in the midst of a bloody 400 heatwave. The seafarers have to walk through knee-deep piles of urine-soaked manure, just think what that sort of treatment does to the bloody dumb animals!