Animal welfare in the Middle East
Sheepmeat Council of Australia (SCA) directed MLA and industry’s live export activities in the Middle East during Eid al Adha.
SCA and the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council recently led an industry initiative to extend our animal welfare programs in the Middle East during Eid al Adha.
Industry focussed on the three markets of Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, where industry implemented a policy of no private sales to unknown slaughter points. Australian sheep had to be processed in approved facilities that met or exceeded international animal welfare standards (OIE).
Eid al Adha is a deeply religious time for Muslims and a significant cultural event in the Middle East region, and making major changes to the process of selling sheep during this peak period is a significant challenge.
The success of industry's program depended on industry addressing some key elements to successfully limit private sales of Australian sheep in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar:
- Ensuring importers and local governments understood the preferred policy regarding no private sales to unknown slaughter points
- Ensuring widespread communication to the general public of the importing countries
- Helping importers plan the logistics of moving people and livestock from the point of purchase to the point to slaughter at approved locations
- Providing Australian industry resources at critical locations, including livestock handling support and monitoring and reporting
With the strong support of importers and governments in key Middle East markets, the program delivered a compliance rate of 98 %. In terms of numbers, this means of the estimated 54,000 Australian merino sheep sold during Eid al Adha this year, just over 1,000 were sold privately and slaughtered at unknown locations.
Following this years’ program, a number of improvements have been identified for possible implementation in future years. These include improving crowd control, improving education and communication prior to the Eid period and increasing local investment in infrastructure.
Industry is now assisting supply chains to implement a new framework to assure the welfare of exported Australian livestock as recommended by the Farmer Review of industry operations. This will require each supply chain to ensure that Australian animals are processed in facilities that meet or exceed OIE standards. The first phase of this program will be delivered in key Middle Eastern markets by March 2012.
Read SCA's announcement of the plan
Read SCA's e-newsletter for more about the plan
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