Red Sea crisis strands thousands of Australian sheep, cows

Australian welfare groups are demanding the release of thousands of sheep and ca le stuck aboard a ship a er their trip to the Middle East was diverted by Yemen’s Huthi rebel a acks in the Red Sea.

The livestock - reportedly more than 15,000 animals, mostly sheep - have spent about four weeks aboard the MV Bahijah since se ing sail from Fremantle, Perth in Western Australia on January 5.

The ship abandoned its plan to voyage through the Red Sea because of the ‘worsening security situation’ there and was directed to return to Australia, the Department of Agriculture said in a statement.

It docked back in Fremantle on Thursday a er reaching the Western Australian coast earlier in the week.

Two veterinarians this week reported ‘no significant animal health or welfare issues’ aboard the ship, the government department said.

But the animals have been exposed to ‘cumulative stress’ during their long trip, said RSPCA Australia chief science officer Suzanne Fowler.

She cited the movement of the ship, the risk of disease, and conditions aboard including the heat, with temperatures in Fremantle reaching about 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday.

Sheep in particular would be standing in their own faeces because of the challenge of cleaning out their pens, Fowler told AFP yesterday.

“We would not support them being re-exported in any way,” she said, a er the government said it was considering an application to do so by the exporter, identified in Australian media as Israeli-based Bassem Dabbah.