An Australian live cattle export ship has set a new world record for the number of cattle on board. The Wellard-owned MV Ocean Shearer, which left Darwin on Thursday, broke its previous record with 24,683 steers and heifers in tow, angering animal rights activists who had been protesting for the end to the live export trade. The ship is heading to Indonesia and comes after the government suspended live export trading to the Southeast Asian country for one-month after video of animal cruelty was shown on Australian television. “We are continuing to work with our Indonesian customers to get more feedlots and abattoirs accredited to meet the new Australian guidelines so we can increase cattle supply to Indonesia and purchases from Australian stations,” said the company's Managing Director Steve Meerwald said in a statement. Protesters in the country lost a battle last month to push the government to ban the trade in live animals after legislators buckled under pressure from companies involved in the trade. Australia's Labor Party joined force with the opposition to defeat two bills proposed that would have ended the country's live export trade to Southeast Asia and the Middle East. At the same time the government voted down the two bills, animal rights activists released footage of the poor treatment of animals in Turkey in an effort to put the pressure back on the lawmakers. Australia has been hit by protests and is embroiled in a debate over whether to continue the export of live animals to predominantly Islamic countries. Animal rights activists protested in Australia's capital, Canberra in August to demand that the government end its $1 billion live trade in cattle, goats and sheep. The protests come as anti-live export calls appear to be gaining steam in Australia. Earlier this summer, the government banned all live exports to Indonesia after animal cruelty reports and videos were published detailing the horrific nature of the trade. Hundreds of protesters converged on the steps of the Victorian Parliament and demanded Prime Minister Julia Gillard to allow MPs a conscience vote on a private member's bill to stop live exports. “If you detect a hint of passion in my voice today, then it's because I've stood on so many occasions in Middle Eastern abattoirs at two in the morning watching our animals brutalized,” campaigner Lyn White told the rally. “I've spent 6 consecutive nights in Indonesian slaughterhouses witnessing a level of brutality that I hope members of my species would never be capable of towards innocent living beings,” she continued. “Australia's willingness to provide animals to these countries has reinforced local views that their treatment of animals is acceptable.” Australia suspended exports to 12 Indonesian slaughterhouses following ABC's television program that showed graphic footage of cruelty to cattle. With the Islamic world currently in Ramadan, where millions of Muslims break fast and expect meat on the plate, the move has been condemned by the Indonesian government. Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, told Australia's The Age last month that while the four-week ban had been “a difficult subject,” the issue had been contained. “My first instinct was to ensure our own respective interests – the interests of Australia and the interests of Indonesia – can be promoted in a way that can be mutually beneficial,” Natalegawa said. “The relationship can absorb challenges of this type that we had and hopefully emerge stronger.” He said he was concerned opinion polls showed that Australians were highly suspicious of Indonesia even though it was more than a decade since the Suharto regime was overthrown. “Irrespective of where we are coming from, the reality is most of the world's problems can only be resolved by co-operation and partnership,” he said. Animal rights activist and Melbourne campaigner David Jones said that this is not about “international standing, it is about what is right.” “What this is about is cruelty and dignity,” he continued via telephone. “What the world must understand is that we are not against Islam, we are against the massive amount of killing and cruelty to living beings that persists in our name. It is time to end it.” European Union policy adviser Peter Stevenson tends to agree, telling a crowd that Australia was damaging its standing in the world by resuming its live export trade. “When we think of Japan, we think of whaling,” said Stevenson, who played a leading role in introducing bans on battery cages and sow stalls in the EU. “Unfortunately when people think of Australia, we will think of live exports,” he told the audience. Stevenson, who is also chief policy adviser for Compassion in World Farming, said Europeans watched as the graphic footage of animal cruelty in Indonesia abattoirs surfaced. “People in Europe couldn't understand how the government … could subject animals to such cruelty,” he said. “The government seems to be utterly uncaring of this country's good name.” It is not just Indonesia that is facing a crackdown. In Egypt's Red Sea coast, the live export trade has taken on new meaning as cattle that succumbs from the journey have their bodies dumped into the waters off the coast. BM
