NSPCA wants all sea exports of live animals put on hold

The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) is resorting to court action to stop all export of live animals by ship until justice minister Ronald Lamola and agricultural minister Thoko Didiza put in place humane regulations to govern this industry.

If successful, the wide-ranging relief being sought on an urgent basis in the high court in Makhanda could have serious consequences for some stock farmers and the entities that specialise in the export of live animals by sea for slaughter in foreign countries such as Kuwait and Cambodia.

Middle East import/export company Al Mawashi has already indicated it will oppose the application.

This was confirmed by the company’s Makhanda-based attorney, Mark Nettelton, yesterday.

But if successful, the application will stop the “appalling and unnecessary cruelty and suffering” caused by the live export of animals by ship, said NSPCA CEO Marcelle Meredith in an affidavit.

The regulations should follow stringent scientific studies and consultations with role players including the NSPCA, whose statutory duty was to prevent the ill-treatment of animals.

There was a huge public outcry last year when the Al Shuwaikh transported 57,000 sheep from East London to the Middle East.

The high court application is to be in two parts.

The first is the urgent interdict that will be argued on Friday. The second, which the NSPCA wants heard in 2021, will require Lamola to report to the court what regulations have been put in place to regulate the export of livestock by sea.

Until then, the NSPCA wants a complete moratorium on all export of livestock by ship.

Meredith said there were no regulations in place concerning the export of livestock and the rules that did exist were to the detriment of animals.

Animals exported by ship were subject to cruel and inhumane treatment that was illegal in SA and this alone was sufficient grounds to interdict their export, she said, adding that the matter was urgent as it had become clear another export shipment was imminent.

Confirming the urgent high court application, Meredith said in a statement yesterday that some 70,000 sheep had been gathered in a feedlot owned by the Page Farming Trust and leased by Al Mawashi in Berlin, Eastern Cape.

The NSPCA will argue that the conditions to which animals are subjected to while at sea and the methods of loading, transportation, care, handling and inhumane treatment on board the vessel were inconsistent with the Animal Protection Act (APA).

In her affidavit, Meredith said the agriculture department was acting beyond its legal authority when it gave permission for the export of the animals as there were no proper regulations in place.

She said there was no reason livestock could not be slaughtered in humane conditions in SA and the meat exported. Instead they were subjected to multiple forms of transport before being forced onto a six-deck ship where they could spend up to 21 days in terrible, hot, crowded, filthy and sometimes lethal conditions.

Meredith attaches several other reports by veterinary experts on the appalling conditions animals suffer on vessels, in feedlots and while boarding and disembarking.

The export of 57,000 sheep in October had resulted in a journey of 21 days during which more than 100,000 litres of urine and faeces had accumulated on the ship. The levels of ammonia and excrement would burn the eyes and throats of the animals and cause respiratory and other infections.

The conditions were so horrific the NSPCA had laid criminal charges against agriculture minister Thoko Didiza, Bruce and Glen Page of the Page Farm Trust, Al Mawashi’s SA director Osama Bodai and others, she said.

Meredith said AfriForum had agreed to assist the NSPCA with the high court case. Renowned former prosecutor Gerrie Nel will lead the legal team.