September 29, 2003
Some Questions
What is it about those Australian sheep? The story seems to be that a bunch of sheep (some 57,000 of them) were shipped to Saudi Arabia sometime in August and because some of them were found to have scabby mouth, they were rejected (and again by the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan) and have been wandering the gulf for over month as people tried to figure out what to do with them. Now it looks like they are on their way to Iraq (a free gift from the Austrialians), but there are still some logistic problems. What I want to know is, if they were considered too much of a health threat for the Saudi sheep population, then why is this not a concern for Iraq's sheep? Or is there something I don't know?
Posted by Mary at September 29, 2003 01:53 AM | TrackBackMary,
There is a history of the Saudi's rejecting Australia's live sheep exports on health grounds.
The live sheep export industry consistently downplays Arab concerns about the health of the sheep when they arrive in the Middle East.
The live sheep export industry has a bad reputation here in Australia because of its indifference to the animal's health on the long voyage. Around 5000 sheep have died on this trip.
Latest reports are that in the absence of a deal being brokered in the Middle East the sheep will be returned to Australia to be slaughtered.
Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson on September 30, 2003 10:57 PM