Rejected Australian sheep head
towards third port
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/13/1063341804199.html
September 13, 2003
More than 50,000 rejected Australian sheep are enduring their 22nd day in Middle Eastern waters as they travel to a third port, as yet unnamed.

The ship carrying 57,000 sheep was refused permission to unload in Saudi Arabia on August 22, after a Saudi vet found six per cent of the animals had the disease scabby mouth.

The cargo, which had sailed from Fremantle in Western Australia, has since been rejected by a second, unnamed, country.

The RSPCA has called for animals aboard the SS Cormo Express to be put down, claiming they were enduring on-board temperatures in the Persian Gulf of up to 50 degrees Celsius.

But the Australian Live Export Corporation (Livecorp) said the shipment's Saudi owner was negotiating with a third country and the sheep were on the way to another port, but would not arrive for three to five days.

A spokesman for federal Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said details of commercial negotiations between the Saudi owner and a third party were expected to be released on Monday.

"We are obviously offering every assistance we can, particularly regarding the welfare of the sheep," he said.

"Negotiations are at a very delicate stage and are being handled by the foreign owner.

"Clearly, it is in the interests of the owner to secure the welfare of the sheep, when you consider about $US100 ($A152) was paid per sheep."

He said an independent veterinary inspection declared the sheep were healthy.

The federal government suspended Australia's livestock exports to Saudi Arabia, worth $195 million a year, after the shipment was rejected by the Saudis.

Mr Truss said the Saudi position on the shipment was unacceptable and the export ban would remain indefinitely.

"There are other issues behind this and they have to be resolved or else no more sheep can go to Saudi Arabia," he told ABC radio yesterday.

The live sheep trade with Saudi Arabia was halted 12 years ago when several shipments were rejected because of scabby mouth, which is harmless to humans.

The trade resumed in 2000.
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The RSPCA has called for animals aboard the SS Cormo Express to be put down, claiming they were enduring on-board temperatures in the Persian Gulf of up to 50 degrees Celsius.