Sheep ship cleared by R.S.P.C.A.

Press, 19 December 1985, Page 1

Sheep ship cleared by R.S.P.C.A.

By

DAVID WILSON

in Timaru

The live sheep carrier Merino Express has been given the all clear by the national director of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Mr Neil Wells.

After an inspection of the vessel yesterday, Mr Wells said, “I can find nothing in that ship which can give me cause to make recommendations for changes.”

“The critical factor is going to be whether these sheep have been properly conditioned, and the only measure of that is going to be the death rate,” he said. The Merino Express is at Timaru to load 17,300 sheep for export to Mexico. The voyage is expected to take 21 days. The sheep will be accompanied by three veterinary surgeons. “This ship has a good reputation,” said Mr Wells. “Its owners are purely shippers and being on a free charter market they have to maintain high standards or they do not get any business.

“What I was looking at was the ventilation system which is very important —

and the ship has the best of both worlds because it has forced air and an extractor system.” There were also portable fans which could be used should there be any stale air build-up in any area. “Our information on the problems that could arise comes from Australia because they have been in it for so long, and ventilation has caused problems with their trade," said Mr Wells. Another problem encountered by Australian livesheep exporters had been the quality of feed pellets, he said.

The Merino Express has a worm-screw system of bringing the pellets from the hold up to the hoppers. “Problems with feed in Australia have been when loose pellets have crumbled into dust and the screws cannot move the dust up,” said Mr Wells.

“But this feed pellet, if it is representative of the whole lot, is a very hard pellet and almost dust-free, so that again we don’t expect any feed problems.” There was one criticism and only time would bear out whether it was valid, he said.

“The sheep at Mayfield have been conditioned to a New Zealand-made pellet which has a high content of barley and wheat husk. The Australian feed on board has a predominance of rice husk.

“They are not taking any New Zealand feed on board,” said Mr Wells. “It is being filled up with 350 tonnes of Australian feed at Fremantle for reasons of economics.

“Will the sheep eat the Australian pellets or reject them?”

Mr Wells said that was something he hoped the vet-

erinarians on board would keep an eye on. An earlier concern was one of segregation of the various breeds but that had now been rectified, he said. “One breed can dominate . another breed and if you mix those breeds in some pens you get bullies,” said Mr Wells. “The Romneys tend to be the underdogs, but since the week-end I believe the sheep have been drafted into various breeds and will not be mixed on board.”

“The sheep at present appear to be in good condition. They have very low loss rate on the feed blocks, about four deaths a day out of about 18,500, which is a very low mortality rate, probably as low — if not lower — as if the sheep were on their original farms,” said Mr Wells. “Here again we are talking about older ewes. The situation,with the fat-tailed ram lambs for the Middle East is an entirely different ball game,” he said. Young animals would be involved in that export trade and in much larger numbers, Mr Wells said. The Middle East transporters would average between

90,000 and 130,000 sheep a shipment, whereas with the Merino Express they were looking at only a 17,300 capacity. “So this shipment to Mexico is not going to be a good guide to judge the Middle East shipment supply,” said Mr Wells. “We still have concerns about the Mexican end. Even if the sheep land without mishap they are going to be subjected to conditions that would not be acceptable in New Zealand.

“There are no regulations governing slaughter techniques in Mexico, but we will have some of our affiliates in Mexico monitoring that side of it, and so we will have a full report to present to the Government on this whole shipment.” Officers of the World Society for the Protection of Animals, W.S.P.A., will monitor the Mexican end of the deal. They will meet the shipment at the port and will follow it through to slaughter.

The W.S.P.A. is a nongovernmental organisation of the United Nations. It represents 400 animal protection organisations in 66 countries.