Australia’s Department of Agriculture will conduct a criminal investigation for the company implicated in the death of 2,400 sheep from heat stress onboard the livestock carrier ‘Awassi Express’ in August 2017.
Namely, in August 2017 footage emerged showing 2,400 sheep dying as the experienced heat stress onboard the livestock carrier ‘Awassi Express’. The conditions onboard the ship were far from ideal, as many of the animals were injured and sick.
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In a bid to stem public anger after the footage, Australia announced it will require ships carrying live cattle and sheep exports to have an independent observer to ensure welfare standards. Moreover, the government will reduce the number of sheep a vessel can carry during the summer months by 28%.
The country will also introduce new legislation to penalise any exporter that violates these standards. Under the proposal, a director of a company could face 10 years prison or A$2.1 million fine if the welfare standards are not met.
Now, Australia’s Department of Agriculture will conduct a criminal investigation into the incident, and especially for the company responsible for the death of the 2,400 sheep.
The question arises ,what was AMSA doing before letting the ship carry the required cargo.
As long as I remember Awassi Express is a modern state of the art ship & first totally Enclose cattle carrier with lowest morality rate .
Every time a ship approach Australian waters proper washing of cargo space & all the emergencies are tested & these emergencies are supposed to b tested again by AMSA authorities as well.
But mostly the authorities are mostly involved in finding loop holes & minor leakages in the Engine room.
They are concerned in finding mistakes in timing mention in resthours .