Australian livestock exporters agree to cut stocking densities
Chastened Australian livestock exporters have agreed to cut stocking densities of sheep aboard vessels during northen hemisphere summer months by 17.5% as part of a series of measures aimed at avoiding further animal cruelty scandals.
The Australian livestock export industry is also about to establish a code of conduct and form a committee with powers to examine actions of individual exporters that might bring the industry into disrepute, after a meeting in Perth yesterday.
The Australian livestock community has been forced into an urgent examination of its exporting capabilities following a documentary carried on primetime terrestrial television that showed thousands of animals dying during a series of voyages to the Middle East aboard the vessel Awassi Express.