Improving live sheep exports

Press, 7 February 1986, Page 16

Improving live sheep exports

The export of live sheep for slaughter abroad has long been a subject for dispute. The latest hitch comes not from people who see the trade as a threat to their jobs but from people who want to ensure that the trade is run as humanely as is possible. This is the view adopted by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle, whose advice will tje taken by the Minister of Customs, Mrs Shields, who finally approves exports. Until he is satisfied that the shipping conditions are adequate, Mr Moyle will not endorse another shipment in the Merino Express which carried more than 17,000 ewes to Mexico.

Mr Moyle’s decision will at least delay another shipment of ewes to Mexico by the Hamilton exporter. The hold-up may stop the trade entirely. Before the Merino Express sailed from Timaru in December, the national director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Mr Neil Wells, inspected the vessel. He was satisfied with the arrangements, particularly the ventilation and feeding systems. Mr Wells was not so confident about the handling of the sheep at the Mexican end of the trade. Mr Moyle, however, has been critical of what he called the “near hysterical” reports from “so-called observers” who watched the ship berth and unload at Manzanillo in Mexico. On the handling of the sheep after they left the ship, the veterinarian who accompanied them does not comment. What happened after the sheep were discharged was outside his jurisdiction. Many people might hold that concern for the decent care of the animals at all stages is still important. So it is; but there must be practical limits to what New Zealand

authorities can do, and any intervention in another country’s handling of the sheep must at least be founded on reliable information. Mr Moyle obviously does not believe he has this.

The upshot of the Mexican shipment is simply that the equipment of the ship was up to standards that were supposed to serve; in fact these standards were not sufficient to avoid the deaths of too high a number of sheep on board. About this, no great argument is going on. The exporting company agrees; the Minister, on veterinary advice, agrees.

Preventing the deaths of exported sheep is one thing. Hardly less important is the need to keep all the sheep in good condition. Achieving this serves two purposes: the buyers are going to be more satisfied; and the sheep will be in better condition to withstand further handling and transport. No-one’s interests are served by failing to keep the highest possible standards in shipping the stock. Furthermore, New Zealand farmers who go to a good deal of trouble to present their sheep in good order, and care for them well even when they are heading for slaughter, are not going to welcome the bad handling of their stock in transit. Getting the standards right for these shipments to Mexico is important to the whole trade in live sheep from New Zealand. So far, the Mexican trade is but a small part of the prospective sales, most of them to the Middle East. Official and commercial concern must be allayed; so must ordinary public concern for the humane treatment of the stock. A failure in one part of the trade would colour attitudes to the whole business.