KARACHI: Commissioner Karachi, Roshan Ali Shaikh, ordered dumping of the recently imported "infected" Australian sheep after administering poisonous injections to them, Express News reported Sunday.
The 21,000 Australian sheep, infected with salmonella and actinomyces, arrived in Pakistan in the first week of September after Bahrain refused to accept the consignment because the animals allegedly had the scabby mouth disease.
The consignment was sent by an Australian company called Wellard Exports.
While speaking to Express News, Shaikh said that the process of killing and dumping the sheep has begun under the supervision of deputy commissioner Karachi.
He added that officials from the federal and provincial governments along with the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) are present on the site to oversee the process that might take a few days.
The commissioner said that the process was initiated on the directives of Livestock Department, as they said that the sheep were not “safe for human consumption.”
Earlier, Sindh Livestock and Fisheries Secretary Syed Abid Ali Shah had said on Saturday that media reports suggesting the recently imported Australian sheep are infected with contagious bacteria are baseless and fabricated.
Last week, the Australian high commissioner to Pakistan Peter Heyward had said that the sheep had been inspected at the Karachi port and were cleared. He insisted that the sheep were healthy and refusal by Bahrain to offload sheep puzzled him.
COMMENTS (33)
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@Aftab:
From the same vessel Oman and Qatar Dischrged about 52,000 heads, the animals are checked by Oman and Qatar Health deaprtment, no such infection shown. Also note that all the australian sheep arrived in these palce are consumerd by the public. These animals are slaughtred in approved Govermnet Slaughter house under strict supervison of Ver. Doctors. Each and every animals had undergone to anti mortem and Post mortam.
The rejection of Bahirn may for some comercial intrest of some new buyers.
@BabaBlackSheep:
Analogy: NRO
Ofcourse this can happen only in the land of the pure Pakistan. Why were they dumped here in Pakistan in the first place??? I hope it does not spread out...
The Press has played a very positive role, congratulation !
However, many questions need to be investigated
1) Why the sheep were allowed in the first place ? 2) Who are the traders who imported it in Pakistan knowingly that the sheep were rejected by the Bahrain Authorities. 3) Should not be the traders be fined/punished ? 4) Should not the relevant government officials be punished ? 4) Who is paying for the cost of dumping these animals ? 5) Would it not be harmful for our environment to dump it ?
this is mass murder qatal-e-aam genocide stop killing them poor sheep and that too 21000 i wish all the officials involved in this scam get dumping orders form GOD AMEN
@Fugitive: The real winner in this story is ship operator. They were obligated under A memorandum of understanding put in place after the Cormo Express disaster of 2003, where 6,000 sheep died, is meant to protect animals involved in the live export trade. As per this MOU they are required to unload sheep within 36 hours of docking. The ship company needed a place to get rid of sheep to meet other country. The were looking for a country who has history of accepting garbage like contaminated ship, electronic waste and almost dead sheep. If some one does research they will find that this has been done before. This is a standard practice of shipping industry to offload infected potatoes, meat, fruits and vegetables in a third country if the original importer refuses to accept the delivery. It is cheaper to dump than to take it back. If this was Eid time the importer would have made killing. My hunch is at least 75% will end up on peoples table.
Exported from Australia and refused by Bahrain so it comes to Pakistan for disposal, definately cheaper than sending them back to Australia. There may be a story here for an enterprising investigative reporter on the disposal of the animals.
RIP
Kudos to ET for breaking this story - it's apparent that the govt was reluctant to stand tall on this issue and your story made it difficult for them to ignore.
Why kill enmass, why not treat them and make healthy, where is Pak vertrnary Surgen general.? Who certified that this poor animals can not be cured.
Where is animal activieists? I am ready to donate a litltle for their welfare, give a try.
Vienna,September 16,2012 Just think a second;was it really destined to be unloaded in Bahrain? What is Bahrain population please? Their slaughtering capacity? Or what is their capacity to feed them if they program slaughtering in installments? This is indeed another not factory but country fire! Was it caused by terrorists? Taravadu Taranga Trust for Media Monitoring TTTMM India --Kulamarva Balakrishna
F1 Racer Hamilton scorching the streets of Mumbai this evening in McLauren Mercedes formula car. Has Formula car racing arrived in Karachi yet. Just being curious cause everytime people compare Karachi to Mumbai.
Just for human tongue/taste, thousands of animals are killed, i wonder if Pakistan is short of arable land. Even milk/sweets consumption should be discouraged.
sending the sheep back will not work they have no visa, besides they will likely feed them to the poor boat people on the Immis island. The real question when will we "cull" the person who imported them or the health inspector who let them in
Thanks and kudos to everyone who played their part to reach and end to this story but the pressure should not stop here rather we should now focus on finding out
Who approved the sheep to be dumped into Pakistan why did the livestock secretary say that the sheep being infected are baseless rumors just 24 hours ago. did he not know about the details or was he trying to help the importer sell his stock why did the australian ambassador make false claims, he should be called into the foreign office and asked to make an explanation banning of all Australian meat items untill Australian authorities show proof that they using best industry standardsThe last one is just a wish borne out of the desire to dish the same treatment we are offered for our products if any of them fail to be upto standards..
The importer PK Livestock Company is an Australian joint venture set up for these kind of mischief. This is not the first time they have imported sick animals in Pakistan. Records can indicate that similar episodes were done in the past too and they got away with it. But more importantly, part of the current lot had already been slaughtered by the company and has been exported to IRAN just in the last week. Therefore counting must be done prior to the killing and questions should be asked about the missing lot and where it went.
Questions to be answered: Why were the sheep brought to Pakistan in the first place? Who is the importer? Who is paying for the cull? For how much the sheep were actually purchased and how payment was made? Dumping is not enough; they are to be incinerated if infected, by whom and how it will be done, if at all? And finally, what is the average cost of incinerating a sheep if done so in Australia plus the cost of taking them back to Australia?
How exactly can you dump sheep?
I wonder that the commisioner is ordering the dumping of infeted meat.is too innocent that he does not know that by ordering dumping of meat will end up to meat market for selling to general public. Commisioner must have ordered for investigation that why infected sheeps were off loaded from ship and why sheeps were slaughtered. Under whom supervision the infected sheep were unloaded and slaghtered. Why the ship was not sent back to Australis. It is quite clear that high officials received bribes and now by ordering dumping of sheeps is a mere eye wash and protection for the culprits.
So who was the legal importer of these sheep? there must be an importer and insurer - call them to task and pay all the damages.
What about Qatar and Oman where lots of them have already been off loaded? are the authorities in touch with them? surely a lot of overseas Pakistanis live there
and who has contacted australian ambassador and protested? specially as i understand the ambassador first said the sheep was good for human consumption - they obviously lied!
@Abdullah: I don't think anybody will be resigning for this episode.
The hidden face who caused this desease landing on Pakistan soil, is being kept hidden and protected by all, including authorities and MQM. May be he is one of their man. Atleast Minister of Shipping & Port must have got some connection with this deal.
Australia has higher standards than us. I don't trust any thing from here.
Which MQM minister resigning after this fiasco ?
Is Australia paying for the dumping? Such large number of sheep so close and cramped will undoubtedly become sick and unhealthy for consumption. I believe Bahrain has much better quality checks than Pakistan, these should have been rejected right away when arrived in Pakistan. The innocent Pakistani officials with their watering mouth accepted it without realising its implications.
Serve lamb chops from the same sheep to families of Mr. Abid Ali Shah and Mr. Peter Heyward if they think the sheep are healthy
salmonella in live sheep??????
Just yesterday health officials from the Sindh government were saying that there is nothing wrong with the sheep. A day is not enough time to investigate the matter. This cull is a result of media pressure, nothing else.
Why dump by us? Send them back to Australia
Was suspicious of this "Not infected" story being fed to media by "Importers" and "Australian Authorities" ever since the saga started on Sept 5. Thank God. Sanity prevailed in the end.