SYDNEY: Australia will resume live cattle exports to Egypt after a two-year halt due to alleged cruel treatment of the animals. Agriculture Minister Tony Burke, who planned to announce the agreement later Friday, told Fairfax newspapers that resumption of exports will be subject to strict conditions, including the cattle being handled according to international standards and slaughtered only at a new high-quality facility. Exports were halted abruptly in 2006 after the previous government reacted to a television documentary showing cattle having their tendons slashed and their eyes poked out by Egyptian cattlemen. Livecorp, the Australian lobby group for the live cattle industry, gave assurances that stock would be well-treated. Under this system Australian cattle will be well cared for and managed under agreed procedures throughout the entire livestock export chain from the farm in Australia to the processing facilities in Sokhna, CEO Cameron Hall said in a statement. The Australian public and federal government can be confident that Australian cattle will be well cared for along the entire supply chain to Egypt. But the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals condemned the decision as a commercial move, saying there was no guarantee that the animals would be handled and slaughtered humanely. The government should be phasing out the export of live animals for slaughter, not expanding the trade into regions with a proven record of disgraceful animal cruelty, RSPCA Australia Scientific Officer Melina Tensen said in a statement Friday. RSPCA Australia is calling on the government to stop stalling and put animal welfare ahead of the bottom line. Animal rights groups have lobbied the Australian government for several years to end live animal exports to the Middle East because of concerns over the Islamic halal slaughter method, which involves slitting the animal s jugular vein and draining all the blood from the carcass. Australia s live cattle trade is worth about 730 million Australian dollars ($690 million) a year. The upcoming federal budget, to be released Tuesday, commits almost A$8 million ($7.5 million) to improving the standards of all Australian live exports. -AP
