Cattle deaths on export ships jump 20 per cent

[creampie]

The number of cattle dying on export ships is the highest it has been in four years, according to figures tabled in Parliament by the Department of Agriculture this month.

The figures reveal 1,192 cattle died on board ships destined for Asia and the Middle East - a 20 per cent increase on last year's figures.

Peak export group LiveCorp says the increase was caused by a single voyage to Qatar and Egypt in February when 295 cattle died.

But the company's chief executive Cameron Hall says usually the death rate is well under 1 per cent per shipment.

"We have by far the toughest standards and the toughest regulations for the live export of animals anywhere in the world," he said.

He says the causes of the deaths tend to be pneumonia or injury due to trauma from rough seas.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011 ... 177438.htm