The 16,000 sheep and cattle stranded on a ship off the coast of Western Australia will be removed from the vessel.
On Thursday evening, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said in a statement the exporter was “working to offload all livestock” from the MV Bahijah and “…any offloading of livestock will be undertaken under strict biosecurity protocols and with regard to animal welfare.”
The ship left Australia for the Middle East back in early January but was told to return home because of the escalating conflict in the Red Sea.
Earlier this week, The Briefing took a look at why the live export trade continue to operate in Australia:
The livestock were then in limbo because they weren’t allowed back into the herd here in Australia for biosecurity reasons.
SBG: We’re still not sure what will happen to them once they disembark with last night’s statement from the government saying, “The department will continue to support the exporter as they consider options for the livestock once they have been unloaded.”
One thing we DO know is they won’t be exported as the government ruled out any chance of them being exported due to “animal welfare and other concerns”.
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