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Australia's live export market again under scrutiny

Xinhua, July 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia's live export market is again under scrutiny as local media reported on Friday an animal welfare group claims Australian sheep are being illegally sold in a"notoriously cruel"Kuwait market.

Australia's government has conceded 450 sheep have "leaked" out of -- or been taken from -- the regulated supply chain to the Middle East, local media reported.

Animals Australia has lodged its sixth complaint with Australia ' s Department of Agriculture in relation to illegal sales at a " banned" market in Kuwait, which operates outside of Australia's official exporter supply chain.

Animals Australia Chief Investigator Lyn White said on Friday the animals would be "tied up and shoved into car boots in 50 degree temperatures before being brutally slaughtered."

White said Agricultural Minister Barnaby Joyce needs to direct Australia's exporters to buy back the animals from the merchants.

A spokeswoman for Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said Australia's government doesn't have the power to compel an exporter to buy back animals from overseas markets that had been " legally sold to a third party." "Even if we did have the powers, such an approach is likely to be counter-productive," the spokeswoman said. "Market traders are likely to acquire more Australian sheep if they know there is a steady profit to be made by selling them back to Australian exporters. "The department's resources are best employed in tracing back the leakages to the source and addressing the causes rather than encouraging a black market to grow."

The spokesman said the latest complaint involved 450 sheep, down on up to 10,000 animals that have been the source of complaints in previous years.

More than 2.2 million sheep have been exported from Australia to Kuwait since the introduction of the Export Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) in 2012, Australia's Department of Agriculture said. Endi