Approximately 80 sheep have died on an air freight consignment from Australia to Indonesia, a body representing Australia’s livestock export sector has confirmed.
The Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council (ALEC) stated that it was “a small air freight consignment of breeder sheep” to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, that “experienced a mortality event of approximately 80 sheep”.
This occurred on the evening of Saturday, August 17.
This was immediately reported to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as the industry regulator.
ALEC will work with the regulator as investigations into the incident progress, the council stated.
It will also work alongside LiveAir, the exporter and the air freight operator in the investigations, ALEC stated.
“Given the investigation is ongoing we will provide further information as it is confirmed,” it added.
LiveAir represents stakeholders involved in the export of livestock by air freight globally from Australia.
It stated that Australia’s live export by air freight industry transports livestock to over 35 different destinations.
The live export by air freight industry generates $75-$100m AUD revenue/year, LiveAir stated.
With 250-300 individual consignments/year, there are just over 74,000 head shipped annually.
This 74,000 head includes goats, sheep, cattle (dairy and beef), buffalo, camels, alpacas, llama and deer across the globe, each year.
LiveAir has said livestock are contained within crates and can be transported in the lower bellyhold of passenger flights or on freighter aircrafts.
LiveAir stated: “Each animal is transported in a specifically designed crate for the animal type. Allowing room for the animal to move freely, good ventilation and specifically designed flooring to keep the crates and aircraft clean from livestock excreta.”
The stakeholder representative said that livestock can be transported to Asia within 24 hours or Europe within 36 hours from Australia.
According to LiveAir, this form of transport is “ideal for pregnant livestock or accessing global destinations that have climatic challenges or new markets”.
“Air transport allows exporters the ability to transport very small and large numbers of livestock pending the market requirements, which is beneficial for opening new markets,” LiveAir added.
Legislation to end the export of live sheep by sea by 2028 has passed both houses of the Australian Parliament and is now law.
The transition from live exports is also supported by a $107 million package intended to help farmers and the supply chain in Western Australia, according to the government.
