New Zealand is suspending cattle exports after ship sinks
New Zealand has suspended the export of live cattle after a ship that left its shores with 43 crew members and nearly 6,000 cows capsized off Japan this week, raising fresh questions about the safety and ethics of transporting livestock by sea.
Animals rights activists say the move did not go far enough because the transnational livestock trade is rife with abuses.
“Ultimately, this is a trade that has to be banned,” said Will Appelbe, a spokesman for SAFE, an animal welfare group in New Zealand.
The ship, the Gulf Livestock 1, was carrying 39 crew members from the Philippines and two each from Australia and New Zealand. It left Napier, New Zealand, in mid-August and sent a distress call early Wednesday near southern Japan, setting off a two-day air-and-sea rescue mission.
Two crew members have been rescued and hospitalized. A third man pulled unconscious from the sea was pronounced dead at a Japanese pier, the Coast Guard said. The carcasses of at least a dozen cows were seen floating in the water Friday, as well as a life jacket.
As news of the missing ship circulated in New Zealand, the country’s Ministry for Primary Industries said that it would temporarily stop considering export applications for live cattle as it tried to understand what happened during the ship’s fateful journey. The statement did not elaborate or give a timeline.
The ministry’s move was the latest that the remote Pacific nation has taken in recent years to regulate the contentious practice of transporting livestock across the ocean, often to China. That country is the biggest consumer of beef from New Zealand and neighboring Australia, another big cattle exporter. Demand for red meat boomed last year after an outbreak of African swine fever disrupted pork production in China, forcing its importers to look for other suppliers.
New Zealand has placed a web of restrictions on the export of livestock for slaughter for years, effectively outlawing the trade. But many live animals are sent abroad for breeding. Nearly 40,000 cattle have been exported so far this year, according to the ministry’s data.
The animals on board the Gulf Livestock 1 were thought to have been sold abroad for breeding, not slaughter. SAFE has said they were most likely pregnant.
Advocates say the transnational livestock trade is cruel, in part because vessels are usually converted cargo ships that do not meet animal welfare standards.