Live export peak body hits back after Australian Veterinary Association labels ASEL regulations ‘deficient’

Australia’s peak live export body has hit back at the Australian Veterinary Association after it called for vets to be mandatory on all short-haul voyages and labelled the current regulations governing the trade “deficient”. It comes after the deaths of more than 100 Australian cattle on a voyage from Darwin to Indonesia this month. DAFF has ruled out exotic animal diseases as the cause of the deaths, saying clinical signs present in the cattle “appear to be consistent with botulism”. But the Australian Veterinary Association on Thursday issued a statement saying the incident “clearly demonstrates” the need for vets to be stationed on all livestock carriers, “no matter how short the voyage”. “The accompaniment of an Australian Accredited Veterinarian is not just important for the health and welfare of the animals on board, but also for the disease investigation to confirm the cause of death in an unusual mortality event such as this,” AVA President Diana Barker said. The AVA claimed DAFF’s current regulatory controls were “deficient” because they allowed exporters to apply for an exemption from having a vet on board short-haul voyages. But the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council has hit back, with chief executive Mark Harvey-Sutton saying the regulations — called the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (ASEL) — were “sufficient”. “We’re disappointed that the AVA has not sought to engage ALEC on this matter,” Mr Harvey-Sutton told Countryman. “We are always open to suggestions from the veterinary community; I welcome them coming to us and explaining the science behind their statement that ASEL is deficient.” Mr Harvey-Sutton said ASEL had been developed “very comprehensively, based on science” since it was first implemented in 2005. The regulations have been updated a number of times with the current ASEL, version 3.3, coming into effect last November. “In our view it is sufficient that well-trained and accredited stock hands are required to be on all voyages, particularly short-haul, and we think it is more than appropriate that vets are compulsory on long-haul voyages,” Mr Harvey-Sutton said. Both AVA and the RSPCA have previously lobbied for vets to be mandatory on all live export voyages from Australia, most recently in the wake of the MV Bahijah debacle. The MV Bahijah departed Fremantle on January 5 bound for Israel, but was ordered by DAFF to abandon its voyage on January 19 amid concerns about Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea. The ship arrived back in Fremantle on February 1 but the animals were not allowed to disembark for another two weeks as authorities stalled on whether to grant the exporter permission to re-export them. The animals were stranded at sea for nearly six weeks, during which four cattle and 64 sheep died, before being unloaded after the exporter’s application was denied. The onboard deaths represented 0.18 per cent of the total cattle and 0.45 per cent of the sheep, which DAFF said was below the reportable mortality levels required to trigger an investigation. Vets employed to accompany the voyage, and those sent by DAFF to inspect the MV Bahijah after it had docked at Fremantle, reported the rest of the animals to be in good health. However, Dr Barker said the incident demonstrated “how critical it is to have veterinarians involved in all facets of live animal export”.