Export of live sheep

Press, 24 January 1986, Page 16

Export of live sheep

Sir, — It has always been difficult to understand how the German people under Hitler condoned or passively accepted his appalling inhumanities. I have often wondered if in similar circumstances we New Zealanders would do the same. I now suspect that we would. Our apathy about the unpleasant and prolonged sufferings of the sheep sent to Mexico is based in the same attitudes which underlay the persecution of the Jews, and the practice of slaveiy — that members of a lower form of life are incapable of sensitivity or pain. If the live sheep trade is to continue, the rules must not only be changed but policed. Our fishing inspectors board and check vessels for their equipment and catch, and a similar procedure is required here. — Yours, etc., J. N. HANLIN. January 22, 1986.

Sir, — Anne Thomson is to be commended for her letter (January 18). What a pity there are not more of her kind in this land. The decision to transport live ewes — including some heavily pregnant — to Mexico was criminal; a last ditch effort by this Government to save face with the fanners. The horror of that diabolical journey, buttered over by plausible assurances by officials who “checked” the ewes before shipment, should never be repeated. That 30 lambs were bom on the trip, 29 of these being trampled to death is appalling. The unloading in Mexico was pitiful, especially the sheep on the lower tiers plastered with wet manure and part blinded by ammonia fumes. Those who fared better faced immediate inhumane slaughter with no prestunning in awful conditions, while John Tate, of Animal Enterprises, is rattling blood money and contemplating more at the expense of these suffering defenceless creatures. — Yours, ESTELLE WIN. January 1986.