Sheep-on-crutches protest by activist
By TOM HANRATTY , Tuesday, July 27, 2010
A PROTESTER dressed as a crippled sheep will brave the sweltering mid-day heat in Manama this afternoon, in a bid to stop live animal imports to Bahrain.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) Australia campaigns director Jason Barker will be joined by Peta Asia senior campaigner Ashley Fruna, in a protest outside the Yateem Centre.
Ms Fruna said the protest, aimed at Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), would be the first of its kind in Bahrain.
"It's the first of its kind in Bahrain as far as we know and we're really excited about it," she told the GDN yesterday.
"There are currently around 500 Peta members in Bahrain and we'd love to see some of them joining us tomorrow, but we understand that it's a working day and it will be tough to get away.
"At the moment it's just me and the crippled sheep.
"The sheep will be dressed with a crutch and bandages and will represent the suffering of the live sheep that are transported to the region."
MLA is a producer-owned company that works in partnership with Australia's red meat industry.
The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region is a long-standing and vital market for the industry and the Yateem Centre is the location for its regional base.
Peta is attempting to persuade MLA to use its influence to change the process of importing live animals, said Ms Fruna.
"MLA is basically an organisation that promotes live imports and exports," she said.
"At the moment MLA supplies to demand and the demand is for live imports in Bahrain.
"We want them (MLA) to use their influence to promote the local governments and authorities to change.
"We'll be standing outside the MLA offices holding placards with the Australian flag on them and calling for the banning of these imports.
"We'd love to get inside the offices but from experience, I think it's unlikely that we'll be able to.
"The first aim of the protest is to get the message across to the MLA that this (the importation of live animals) is wrong and should be stopped, but we also want to educate people, who probably don't even realise what goes on.
"They would have no idea that these animals are crammed in their thousands onto decrepit ships for weeks on end, where temperatures are extremely high and disease is rife.
"The journey from Australia to the Middle East is the longest possible one for livestock.
"What we want to see is an end to the transportation of live animals.
"Put simply, live import is out of date and I think, like with anything really, people continue to do what they're used to doing and are unreceptive to change
"There are halal slaughter-houses in Australia, but they aren't being used.
"The animals could be slaughtered there and frozen, packaged and then brought to the Middle East."
MLA Mena livestock services manager Peter Dundon said the decision to import live animals into the country was down to the Bahrain Livestock Company (BLC).
"BLC is the body that imports sheep and cattle into Bahrain and that is supported by the Bahraini government," he explained.
"We export both fresh and frozen meat but the demand in the Middle East is for locally-produced fresh meat.
"The Bahraini population has to eat and fresh meat is the preference
"There are a number of countries that this meat could be imported from but Australia is the best because it's disease-free
"Some of the meat coming into Bahrain is frozen and a small proportion is from other countries but about 95 per cent comes from Australia because we have the best quality produce.
"Virtually all of our competitors, be they in Africa, South America or elsewhere, are commonly affected by diseases in their animals and some of these diseases can be passed on to humans.
"It means a country might be able to produce fresh meat in one month, but then not the next month, so Bahrain needs reliability."
Bahrain Livestock Company chairman Ibrahim Zainal said the company continued to follow all rules and regulations in relation to the safe transport of live animals.
"We are a local company and we take care of the animals and follow all the appropriate rules and regulations," he said.
"We are a wholesale importer of produce to meet the local demand and we will continue to do that.
"We are aware of the halal slaughter-houses available in Australia and in fact have already begun importing frozen beef from Australia.
"Some people accept this, but the majority wants their meat to be slaughtered and produced here."
Today's protest is set to take place from 12.30pm.
thanratty@gdn.com.bhhttp://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=283196
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