Charges laid over cattle deaths at Noonkanbah station

Animal welfare charges have been laid against a Kimberley organisation, two years after hundreds of cattle died from thirst on a station it runs. It is believed almost 500 cattle died in horrific conditions on Noonkanbah station near Fitzroy crossing in November 2018. Many of the animals had collapsed near water points that had dried up during the unusually dry wet-season. The charges are the product of a long-running investigation by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, but come just in the nick of time: The two-year statute of limitations under the Animal Welfare Act expires in late December. In a statement, the department said the owner of the station, the indigenous-operated Yungngora Association, along with its former chief executive, had been charged under the Animal Welfare Act. The matter will be heard in the magistrate’s court. The department is still investigating other mass cattle deaths in similar circumstances. Weeks after the incident at Noonkanbah, 760 cattle were destroyed and hundreds more reportedly died from thirst at Yandeyarra Reserve, south of Port Hedland. This station is managed by the Mugarinya Community Association. "DPIRD is undertaking further enquiries before finalising its position on this matter regarding compliance under the WA Animal Welfare Act," the department told the ABC. In 2019, Agriculture minister Alannah Mactiernan said that the deaths had resulted from “catastrophic failures in management,” but stressed the WA Government had taken steps to prevent similar incidents from happening again. In November, the WA Liberals urged the department to lay charges against both the Yungngora and Mugarinya associations. Upper House Liberal MP Jim Chown called the deaths “the worst breach of the State’s animal welfare legislation in living memory”. “(Cattle) were dying on top of each other while they tried to drink the slop that remained to quench their insatiable thirst,” he said.