Live sheep exports by sea will continue – with or without SA, says major meat producer

The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) breathed a small sigh of relief after their recent court victory, which has temporarily prohibited the live export of sheep by sea.

Until the matter is heard on 16 July, the 56,000 sheep set to journey the seas aboard international meat production and trade company Al Mawashi’s Al Messilah vessel and their counterpart, Livestock Transport Trading Company KSC (KLTT), will remain in the Eastern Cape.

Al Mawashi reported approximately R14 million in unforeseen expenses in feed, veterinary services and port costs due to the ruling, and said although the company respects the verdict, “we are obviously disappointed…”

The NSPCA’s outspoken criticism on the live export of any animals by sea, and the fight to ban live exports across the equator, is far from over, however, with Al Mawashi South Africa Managing Director Ilyaas Ally emphasising that “consumer preference in the Middle East and Northern Africa has and will always be for live animals”.

Welfare concerns

In addition to consumer preferences, Ally said when asked of the trade of frozen carcasses that food security is imperative, and that “this supply chain is not sufficient to supply all the needs”.

Chilled and frozen meat is also already being exported to the Middle East, Ally explained, raising concerns with expiration dates.

He said that live sheep exports are also in line with religious and cultural requirements, reiterating Al Mawashi’s view that they cannot be in agreement that exporting chilled meat would be a preferred, better and humane option.

Last year, the NSPCA raised a host of welfare concerns when it came to the live export of farm animals by sea, calling for the export of packaged meat instead.

From handling the sheep as they are offloaded to condition aboard vessels, the association has called for the ban of live animal exports by sea since the mid-1990s, emphasising that “all animals are deserving of consideration, even those being raised for food”.

This was echoed by NSPCA farm animals protection unit manager Grace De Lange, who said that they were not opposed to farming practices, “as long as it is done humanely”.

She said that with halaal butcheries in South Africa, the NSPCA ensures that animals were stunned before they are slaughtered. But in other countries, methods often do not include pre-stunning.

“Those that survive the voyage will… face the horrors of arriving in a country where there are no animal protection laws. They will be… handled inhumanely – and they will be slaughtered fully conscious, often by unskilled slaughterers, and in the presence of animals,” she explained in a statement last year.

De Lange raised the issue of high temperatures in the Gulf, which means soaring temperatures in vessels. This can result in heat exhaustion and stress, which can cause dehydration, starvation and death, especially during an estimated two to three-week journey.

The Al Mesillah vessel in South Australia. Image: Les Blair/Marine Traffic

The NSPCA also raised concerns of the possibility of injury on board a vessel due to overcrowding.

When asked how Al Mawashi guarantees the welfare of animals aboard a vessel, Ally explained that animals are under continuous observation, and denied allegations of overcrowding.

“Al Mawashi uses advanced models to determine the space allocation for animals to achieve a stocking density which reduces heat stress on board vessels, and which provides animals with optimal space and comfort.

“Calculations for the space allowance for each animal is done scientifically… During our past two shipments, we achieved the following mortality rates: October [2019] shipment – 0.17%, and March 2020 shipment – 0.14%.

“Thus, our vessel infrastructure systems and animal healthcare on vessels have limited animal distress and losses,” Ally said, adding that mortalities are below the prescribed 2% in terms of World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) standards, and that vessels are inspected by South African authorities. Sheep are also sheared before voyages, ‘to improve thermoregulation’.”

Ally assured that live exports are in fact saving farm animals from starving to death, noting the prolonged drought in the Eastern Cape.

He said that critics opposed to live animal exports “fail to see the positive and direct relationship between live exports and animal welfare”, pointing to the effects of climate change on farmers in the region, and by proxy, their animals.

Without Al Mawashi South Africa’s business, Ally alluded to the fact that “the cycle of starvation-induced animal suffering is likely to continue, especially in the Eastern Cape,” adding that Al Mawashi’s trade in the province “has improved and positively impacted the welfare of livestock”, a fact, he said, which animal welfare groups “frequently omit”.

Sustained demands for live meat 

The NSPCA’s eventual goal to ban live exports by sea may stop the industry in South Africa, but Ally said that it would not ban it worldwide.

“The country will only be out of the game,” he said, explaining that in one year, Al Mawashi South Africa injected R400 million into the Eastern Cape economy.

This, compounded with the Covid-19 pandemic, a reported “positive effect” on red meat prices since initiating large-scale animal exports, and the South Africa Reserve Bank’s projection that the country’s GDP is set to contract by 32.6%, means the live export industry is more valued than ever.

“If anything, the impact of Covid-19 has illustrated, once more, the importance of agriculture and agricultural trade.

“Demand for live ruminant animals in Middle Eastern countries remains stable and is on a growth trajectory,” Ally confirmed.

In addition, the import and export of agricultural foods is categorised by government as an essential service, which means trade has not been adversely affected.

Infection and Covid-19 concerns 

Ally confirmed that no crew or personnel aboard the Al Messilah vessel, currently berthed in East London, have contracted Covid-19, and that despite the pandemic, Al Mawashi is not concerned of the possibility of domesticated ruminants being carriers of the virus.

But De Lange argued that despite not knowing exactly what animals passed the virus on to humans, Covid-19 and zoonotic virus strains should be taken into consideration.

Therefore, industries dealing with live animals in close quarters may wish to consider re-checking their sanitation and slaughtering practices.

Ally maintained that animals undergo a 30-day biosecurity quarantine before the journey to Middle Eastern shores, and that the South African government provides health certificates and vessel compliance.

“This provides… the importing country with the necessary guarantees that animals are disease-free, and… to the export country that animal welfare standards and animal safety during the voyages are achieved through vessel systems.”

Vessels are equipped with hospital pens to treat animals onboard the vessel, ventilation systems remove heat, humidity, ammonia and carbon dioxide from manure and urine build-up, animals are fed fresh feed and water daily, and vessels are cleaned and disinfected before each new journey.

The NSPCA argues that shipments inspected by them resulted in advised reductions in the number of animals per pen, due to lack of space.

They raised concerns that animals are often left standing in thousands of litres of wet faeces and urine due to poor drainage, which discourages animals from lying down, in addition to no bedding being provided.

Ally’s response indicated that bedding is provided, and that straw or sawdust is often added to vessel floors to better absorb urine and faeces. And if necessary, manure is trampled down to create “a firm pad underfoot”, he said.

He argued that at any feedlot, sheep sleep and stand on their “dunk” for more time than onboard vessels – “this is natural and doesn’t create any disease. In terrestrial feedlots for sheep, feedlot operators do not remove animal excrement. The same basic management principle of terrestrial feedlots applies for livestock carrier vessel feedlot pens. The use of water to clean out pens during shipments can create disruption, stress on the animals, and unsafe slippery surface conditions for animals,” Ally explained.

Al Mawashi’s firm stance on the continuation of live meat exports to satisfy consumer demand, provide food security and adhere to religious and cultural practices provides additional challenges to the NSPCA’s animal welfare concerns.

Not only is a mindset change what is needed in order to ban live meat exports by sea on a global scale, but issues of population growth, trade relations and climate change means countries challenging whole industries on a large scale.

The concerns raised by Al Mawashi South Africa to defend their unmoved stance on live animal exports by sea yearn for a pre-pandemic time, but understanding the precarious and sometimes confusing part humans play in the lives and deaths of animals in the face of the current pandemic may be one of the practices that must no longer be taken for granted.

“In a similar vein where the slaughter of animals is permitted in South Africa for religious and cultural reasons, it is also a cultural and religious requirement in Middle Eastern countries,” Ally noted.

However, although a far cry from wet markets in Wuhan, the concerns that apply to the public are the same as those for the live meat export trade: the dangers of viruses spreading, especially when animals and humans are in close proximity, and the need for humans to change the way interactions with and upkeep of animals is conducted.

There is a cog missing in the world’s food systems, snowballing into inevitable epidemic and pandemic scale virus outbreaks. Even with health checks and officials giving live animals the all-clear for a weeks’ long journey, the incontrovertible evidence of a projected increase in viruses with global effects like Covid-19 could be a sign for humans to urgently change how we impact the lives of other creatures.

After all, no one wants to make an enemy by mistake, especially one as ruthless as Mother Nature.

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