The export of at least 70 000 sheep from South Africa to the Middle East hangs in the balance after judgement was reserved in the Grahamstown High Court earlier this month in a matter between South Africa’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) and an East London supplier.
According to the NSPCA the company, Kuwaiti-based livestock supplier Al Mawashi sends sheep to the Middle East in conditions leading to loss of livestock because of cruelty experienced while at sea.
Reuters has reported that the NSPCA has investigated the Kuwaiti supplier and its parent company LTTC and has found that a number of the animals suffer severe heat stress while on board Al Mawashi’s livestock carrier, Al Messilah.
An Al Mawashi spokesman, however, told the news agency that its vessel had been modified earlier this year with a new ventilation system that would eliminate heat stress and any cruelty to the livestock
Providing some context, Australia in 2018 banned the exportation of sheep to the Middle East during the northern hemisphere’s summer months.
According to Al Mawashi, its first shipment of sheep from South Africa last October was because of the high quality of feed fed to local sheep, and not because its supply line with Australia had been compromised.
In March a second shipment followed but the third shipment, Al Mawashi confirmed this morning, had been held back pending the High Court’s decision.
In the meantime vessel tracking indicates that the Al Messilah is still at the Port of East London.
Earlier this month Ilyaas Ally, managing director for Al Mawashi South Africa, told News 24: “It is well-accepted that the mortality rate is an important indication of the health and welfare of animals.
“Between our two shipments, we achieved an average mortality rate of 0.15%, with the mortality rate of the October shipment standing at 0.17%, while the March shipment was 0.14%.
“To put this into perspective, South Africa’s sheep farmers benchmark themselves to achieve a mortality rate of three to 3.5% on farms and feedlots.”
In what is generally described by local agricultural concerns as a golden opportunity for South African sheep farmers, Ally added recently that 70% of their export stock came from commercial farmers of which 22% were emerging suppliers, up from an initial 7%.
