After a little over two weeks since 16,000 sheep and cattle were unloaded from the Bahijah livestock carrier, Australia’s Department of Agriculture has given the all-clear to load them onto the same ship and re-export them to Israel.
The vessel will not use the Red Sea route due to the danger of Houthi attacks, which was the reason it was ordered back from the route in the first place. Attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial shipping linked to Israel and the US in the Red Sea make reaching the Israeli market far more difficult.
The animals already spent nearly six weeks at sea which included the trip from Fremantle to the Red Sea, diverting from the route, the return to Australia, being stranded offshore Perth and then finally being unloaded on February 14. In all that time, the vessel berthed in port only once to restock supplies and fodder. After disembarking, the livestock were taken by truck from Fremantle Port to be held in a feedlot in quarantine amid biosecurity concerns.
Now, the Department of Agriculture has approved a notice of intention to export a consignment of that same livestock to Israel, the only condition being that the exporter does not go through the Red Sea.
The exporter did submit a plan to re-export the animals without unloading them back to the Middle East via the Cape of Good Hope, a 33-day route around Africa to evade the Houthis. A plan that was shot down by the Department.
“All consignments of livestock exported from Australia are subject to inspection by departmental veterinarians to ensure they are fit for export and meet all importing country requirements,” the Department said in a statement regarding its decision.
The veterinarian oversight sounds good in principle but reports from the Department during the livestock stay onboard the vessel said that the animals were in good health but from the departure on January 5 and unloading on February 14 a total of 81 animals died. Four cattle and 64 sheep died while onboard while seven cattle and six sheep died on land.
Lynn Simpson, a former live export veterinarian who often wrote for Splash about the problems – and often disasters – within livestock export as well as on the Bahijah situation, said in a video published by Animals Australia that the time these animals will be spending on the vessel is “insane”.
“, that’s 17 days. That’s small but enough for any animal to endure. They, in fact, don’t even need to do that. The idea of then returning them back to the ship and not just doing a 17-day voyage and trying to repeat that one that didn’t work but extending it to another 33 days which would take their voyage to over 70 days is absolutely ludicrous,” Simpson said.
“To even attempt that would be completely experimental. So, it’s not even long haul, it’s not extra-long haul, it’s experimental long haul. If the government does it and approves it – it’s insane,” she added according to the reports published in splash247.com .
WA Farmers livestock division spokesman Geoff Pearson took a completely different view of the situation and told local media that he welcomed the resumption of trade and that the animals “were in good condition and well-prepared for the voyage” adding that the 33-day voyage was “nothing new”.
The one positive development from the whole Bahijah calamity is the fact that earlier this week Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi introduced a bill in the Australian Parliament to legislate the phase-out of live sheep exports by sea from May 1, 2026.
