NEW AD AGAINST IMPORT OF LIVE ANIMALS TARGETS AUSTRALIA

Massive Suffering and Death of Animals in Transit Makes Their Flesh Haram – ‘Against Islam’ – Says Group

For Immediate Release:
27 September 2012

Karachi – In response to the latest disaster involving live sheep transported from Australia to the Middle East, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia has just released a new ad that should turn the stomach of anyone with a penchant for sheep flesh. The ad shows just a few of the sheep out of the thousands who are packed so tightly together on ships that they can barely move and explains the horrors that the animals are forced to endure while spending weeks at sea. Just last month, a shipment of more than 70,000 sheep left Australia, and nearly 22,000 of the animals were stuck at sea for 33 days because Bahrain – citing the animals’ infection with scabby mouth disease – refused to accept them. They were eventually offloaded in Karachi, where they were tested, and it was determined that they were infected with salmonella. Despite protests from the Australian government, an unknown number of sheep have already been “culled”.

In addition to petitioning Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to ban all live exports, PETA is also appealing to people in the Middle East and Asia to stop importing sheep from Australia. Islam teaches that animals used for food must be treated well and that tormenting and abusing animals is haram, which means “against Islam”.

“The Australian government’s actions to protect sheep and cattle from the horrors of live export have been virtually non-existent”, says PETA Campaign Coordinator Claire Fryer. “One disastrous and deadly incident after another proves that live exports of sheep and cattle can never be humane and must be banned for good.”

The ad – which carries the caption “Before They’re Cooked in Yoghurt and Spices, They’re Marinated in Their Own Urine and Faeces” – points out that during these gruelling journeys, many of the sheep become sick or injured and those who die are often thrown into the sea or ground up in macerators. By the time the survivors arrive, they are often mired in their own waste. Ammonia fumes from the accumulated urine are so noxious that they have caused animals to go blind or suffer respiratory failure.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.au.

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