Brahman Express: Indonesia temporarily bans imports from Australian supplier after deaths of 100 cattle at sea

Indonesia has slapped a suspension on live cattle imports from a single property in the Northern Territory after reports more than 100 cattle died on a voyage from Darwin to the archipelago nation. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is investigating the incident onboard the Brahman Express, which left Darwin Port on March 15. DAFF has ruled out exotic animal diseases as the cause of the deaths, confirming on Thursday that an outbreak of botulism was suspected. In a statement, Indonesia’s director of animal husbandry Nuryani Zainuddin said the Indonesian government imposed the temporary ban after it “received information” from Australian authorities. “The Ministry of Agriculture and the Indonesian quarantine body will work together with the Australian Government to conduct (an) investigation on the case,” Dr Zainuddin said. “While the investigation is ongoing, the Ministry of Agriculture will temporarily suspend one registered premises from being a cattle supplier.” The announcement appears to have blindsided DAFF, which issued a statement on Thursday morning saying it was the department’s understanding Indonesia “may” issue a temporary suspension. The department issued another statement hours later confirming this was the case. “Australia has received confirmation from the Indonesian authorities that the export of live cattle from a particular registered establishment in the Northern Territory has been temporarily suspended, pending further investigations to determine the cause of the incident,” the statement read. “The department continues to investigate the cause of livestock mortalities reported on the Brahman Express. Clinical signs present in the cattle appear to be consistent with botulism.” Botulism in cattle is most often caused by the cattle eating a toxin produced by bacteria in contaminated feed, according to DAFF. It is not a contagious or exotic disease and is not a risk to the Australian herd or to human health. DAFF said detecting botulism through tests was often difficult due to the low amounts of toxin present in the bloodstream of affected cattle. “As a result, testing for botulism is a process of elimination and will take some time,” the statement continued. “Testing undertaken at the Northern Territory Government’s Berrimah Veterinary Laboratory has excluded bovine ephemeral fever and tick fever as possible causes of mortality. A number of other tests are still under way as part of the investigation. “Australia is confident that there is no evidence of an exotic disease, and our animal health status remains unchanged.” Australia’s chief veterinary officer Beth Cookson told media the dead cattle had been traced back to a single property in the NT. She said “a number of cattle” had also died “within that facility” and botulism was the likely diagnosis. “What we suspect has occurred is that the exposure occurred prior to export, and that the cattle, when they were inspected for export, were not showing any clinical signs of disease, but that that disease developed once they were on the livestock voyage,” Dr Cookson said. DAFF has yet to confirm the exact number of cattle deaths, though numerous media outlets have reported the number to be more than 100. A DAFF spokesperson said the department was cooperating with Indonesian officials and would provide a report when its investigation was complete. “The department is committed to working closely with our international trading partners to provide assurance that all animals exported from Australia comply with their animal health requirements,” they said. Under Australian regulations, an exporter must notify the government if a shipment’s mortality rate is higher then three head of cattle or 0.5 per cent within 12 hours of the deaths. It is understood the Brahman Express has capacity to transport more than 4000 cattle, however, it is not yet clear how many were on the vessel. Indonesia is the biggest market for live Australian cattle, importing hundreds of thousands of head annually which was worth about $1.2 billion last year, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Indonesia temporarily suspended exports from four Australian facilities last after Australian cattle tested positive to lumpy skin disease after arriving in Indonesia. Both lumpy skin disease and foot and mouth disease have been running rampant in Indonesia since early 2022, but have not been detected in Australia.