Live Sheep Exports – What’s happening?
The recent Australian experience of a rejected live sheep shipment prompted a number of letters to our Minister of Agriculture and MAF, and renewed calls from the Royal New Zealand SPCA to ban the trade from New Zealand.
It also highlighted that many people believed the trade from New Zealand had long since ceased. And, further, it demonstrated that a New Zealand shipment could also be rejected with similar sorry consequences.
MAF has had a long association with the live sheep export trade. The export of live sheep from New Zealand for slaughter overseas recommenced in 1985 after several years of a total ban. Live sheep exports were initially restricted by quotas set by a Government Advisory Committee whose role in regulating the trade was designed to satisfy the concerns of the animal welfare lobby (who strongly opposed the trade) and the domestic slaughter industry. The quota system, the subject of much criticism, was abandoned in 1988. Approval for shipments came from the Minister of Agriculture, which continued through to the mid-1990s, when the responsibility was taken over by MAF’s Chief Veterinary Officer (subsequently the Director of Animal Biosecurity).
The trade grew from about 416,000 in 1986 to over one million sheep in 1988/89. The trade in the mid-to-late-1980s was to a number of countries, although mainly to the Middle East. In 1990, the New Zealand trade became more focused on Saudi Arabia, as New Zealand moved to fill a gap created when Australia withdrew from exporting to Saudi (for the next six years), following a number of disputes and issues over animal health standards.
The New Zealand trade ran into problems when a 1990 shipment on the Cormo Express suffered a 12 percent mortality which was followed in the same year by a rejected shipment on the basis of health grounds (albeit questionable). As a consequence, New Zealand temporarily suspended its live sheep trade with Saudi Arabia. To date, however, these remain the only major setbacks the New Zealand trade has suffered.
Following discussions by MAF’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr John Hellstrom, the New Zealand Embassy in Riyadh, and the Minister of Agriculture the Hon. John Falloon, with the Saudi authorities, the trade recommenced in 1991. The trade reached its peak in the mid-1990s with over one million sheep being exported.
A code of welfare, developed by the then Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, has been in place since 1991. Its focus is to set and maintain acceptable welfare standards and to reduce mortality to below one percent. The code has required that a MAF-approved veterinarian must accompany each shipment. A comprehensive reporting system was also put in place, so that MAF, in association with a Technical Review Committee, could review each shipment, and put in place any improvements leading to enhanced welfare standards. MAF has also commissioned a number of trials with regard to pneumonia, which became a problem when the trade required younger animals, as the Haj festival moved forward (as it does each year). This work eventually resulted in setting of a minimum age limit based on animal health and welfare grounds.
In 2000, approval for shipments moved to the auspices of the Animal Welfare Act, and the responsibility for approving shipments now lies with MAF’s Director-General. Shipments over the past five years have dwindled to one a year, (approximately 40,000 sheep) due to a combination of economic factors, falling New Zealand sheep numbers, higher costs from New Zealand and the age restriction with regard to lambs. Deaths on these shipments have remained consistently below 0.8 percent. A recent application to export 65,000 sheep has been placed on hold until such time that MAF can be satisfied that there can be there can be sufficient additional safeguards to minimise the risks of any future shipments being rejected.
New Zealand does export frozen meat to the Middle East (about 15 percent of the total amount of frozen lamb exported from New Zealand), however, for religious and cultural reasons, Saudi Arabia chooses to sacrificially slaughter live animals, particularly for the observance of religious occasions such as the Haj. Saudi Arabia does not produce enough sheep of its own and therefore has to import sheep from other countries, not only for sacrificial purposes but also to satisfy domestic consumption.
Animal welfare groups remain steadfastly opposed to the trade. Whether the trade increases from the current level remains to be seen. Factors such as economics, ongoing Australian involvement, international and domestic pressure and the activities of animal welfare and animal rights groups will all play an important role.
MAF’s continuing involvement in this trade is to manage and minimise the animal welfare risks.
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