February
15, 2006
ANIMAL ACTIVISTS
ANGERED BY “RENT A CROWD” CLAIMS FROM ROBERTS
Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania
(AACT) is angered by claims made by Chris Taylor, Roberts’ livestock
manager, that it paid for interstate animal activists to attend last weekend’s
live export protest at Devonport.
Members of Animal Liberation
in NSW, Victoria and South Australia, as well as from Animal Rescue, joined
AACT’s protest at the Devonport wharf on Saturday and Sunday.
“These people came
to Tasmania on their own initiative and at their own expense, and Mr
Taylor needs to be aware of the strength of the community’s opposition
to this evil trade. We are enormously grateful to our interstate friends
for their courage and their support”, said Suzanne Cass, AACT’s
Live Export Campaign Co-ordinator. “Mr Taylor is welcome to ascertain
for himself from our books that we certainly do not have funds to finance
our own Committee’s expenses, never mind paying for interstate
people to come here.
“We knew that the usual
claims of “rent-a-crowd” would come of this, and it’s
a pity that Mr Taylor has to sink to this form of attack in order to
deflect the public’s attention from Roberts’ involvement
in, and the realities of, this trade, in particular the shocking fate
awaiting these animals in Kuwait and the UAE. Both Roberts and the government
are remarkably silent on that issue. As well, it is an attempt to divert
attention from his own, and Roberts’ records for animal cruelty
in transport matters in 2002”, Ms Cass continued.
“What we saw on the
few trucks we were able to quickly check indicated that Roberts’
attitude to animal welfare has not improved since then.
“If Mr Taylor and Mr
Kons have the “respect” they claim for our work, and have
nothing to hide, they should not have prevailed upon Devonport Police
to prohibit us from inspecting incoming trucks after the first hour,
as we have always done previously. That was part of the catalyst for
the events of last Saturday”.
Twelve people were arrested
last Saturday when protesters’ emotions ran high as the first trucks
rolled in to the wharf.
AACT claims that its advocates
saw breaches of the current National Code of Conduct, which were reported
to the Police Inspector on duty with the request that the information
be given to Animal Welfare Inspectors. Amongst the issues for concern
were the continued use of cattle trucks to transport sheep, the transporting
of horned and unhorned animals together, (S2.10), and AACT members do
not believe that these sheep were shorn within the required period or
that their wool length was within the description contained in the (National)
Australian Standard for the Export of Live Animals (Version 1) (S1.19).
AACT members also saw “downed” and injured animals including
one with a severe horn injury and blood all over its face.
“The Chief Animal Welfare
Officer’s response to our complaint under S2.10 was that he thought
“that only applied to cattle”, so we have little confidence
that even the voluntary code was applied. We also question if the trailers
containing these animals were properly inspected in accordance with
S2.6 of the Standard”, continued Ms Cass. “Some of them
looked like they were falling to bits, and we have photographed those.
On film footage we took of loading, the ramps of some trucks were clearly
not of the right height or construction, forcing the animals to jump,
and some got their legs caught in the gaps. In one case, a sheep is
kicked, and we believe that there were unmuzzled dogs (S2.13) on the
trucks at the wharf with the sheep.
“Our preliminary observations
are that these people cannot even comply with a voluntary Standard heavily
weighted in their favour, and we will be preparing a detailed report
for Minister Kons and DPIWE as soon as we have all our evidence collated”,
concluded Ms Cass.
For further information, please contact: Suzanne, Campaign
Co-ordinator, Live Exports Phone 0414 726935
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