Letters ney University journal Control and Therapy in 2014 that live export can never be humane. The department has taken worthwhile action in suspending the licence of the largest live exporter. Now it’s more than time for the next step: to ban this vile trade for good. Desmond Bellamy PETA Australia, Byron Bay
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Men’s shed
Live exports
The Agriculture Department deserves a vote of thanks from all Australians for its decision to suspend the licence of the largest live sheep exporter, Emanuel Exports. Pictures of dead and dying heat-stressed sheep aboard the Awassi Express on a trip to the Middle East sparked public outrage earlier this year and led to a government inquiry into the trade. The premier of Western Australia, from where the ship departed, described the behaviour of the export companies as ‘appalling’.
This was not an isolated incident. Every year, millions of Australian sheep and cows are sent on hellish journeys to Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and Agriculture Department figures indicate that more than 2.5 million animals have died on live-export ships before even reaching their destination, from heat stress or starvation, as they don’t recognise the pellets they’re given as food. Nor is this suffering, either on the sea or at the destination, new. A joint investigation in 2006 by PETA and Animals
Australia documented workers in an Egyptian slaughterhouse stabbing Australian cows, gouging their eyes out, and slashing their leg tendons. These tragic and unnecessary scenes occur with sickening regularity, one of the worst being the death of thousands of sheep, literally baked alive, on their way to the Middle East in 2013 on the Bader III. This trade is only made financially possible by radically cutting all considerations of animal welfare. Not surprisingly, a veterinarian who worked on board these ships wrote in the Syd-
Our community sheds are non-profit organisations that originated in Australia, to advise and improve the overall health of all men. They normally operate on a local level in the community, promoting social interaction and aim to increase quality of life. Indeed, a great cause and totally necessary. Mullumbimby currently has two organisations with the same purpose, U3A Men’s Shed located at the Showgrounds and Mullumbimby Repair Café located at the Community College. On June 22 I received a letter from BSC that drew my attention to a Notification of DA by The Community Gardens (Lot 22 Mullumbimby Sports Fields) who intend to build another men’s shed. This will include construction of three new sheds and an application for a pre-existing continued on next page
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The Byron Shire Echo July 4, 2018 11