Australia pressures Pakistan over brutal sheep cull

The cull – which included live burials of sheep – has prompted growing calls to ban sales of living animals from Australia after several incidents involving cruel treatment of exported cattle, goats and sheep.
Australia’s Prime Minister told her Pakistani counterpart, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, that the footage of the cull was distressing and that Australians were concerned by “these acts of cruelty”.
“I did raise with the Prime Minister of Pakistan my concern about the graphic and very cruel images,” Ms Gillard said, after the leaders met in Laos.
“[I was] very strong in raising those concerns and very clear this is something that has distressed the Australian people.”
Ms Gillard said Mr Ashraf had agreed to her request to investigate the cull.
The sheep were killed last month after they were initially rejected by Bahrain over health concerns and then sent to Pakistan, which said they were unfit for human consumption. But Australian authorities had cleared the sheep for export and ruled that they were healthy.
Farmers in Australia have since banned further sheep exports to Bahrain and Pakistan until the matter is reviewed by the Gillard Government.
However, several backbenchers have joined animal rights groups and the Greens to call for a blanket ban on live exports. Australia’s lucrative sale of live cattle to Indonesia was suspended last year after footage emerged showing brutal slaughters in abattoirs.
A Labor MP, Melissa Parke, said the live trade was “immoral” and Australian regulators were unable to prevent cruelty overseas. “These animals are suffering for profit, it is immoral and unacceptable,” she said.
“For industry to keep saying these are isolated incidents is simply not credible and the department, as regulator, has now conceded it cannot guarantee the welfare of animals sent overseas.” The nation’s peak farmers’ group said the cull was shocking but Australia has strict controls and a ban would trigger a decline in international animal welfare standards.
“I think the industry was once again very shocked last night by the footage,” said Jock Laurie, president of the National Farmers Federation.
“But every now and again we have a hiccup in the system… so let’s make sure that we find a way to overcome that problem and that’s what we are asking to do here.”