New Zealand Suspends Live Cattle Exports Following Ship’s Capsizing
New Zealand has suspended live cattle exports following the capsizing of Gulf Livestock 1, a livestock transport ship headed to China with almost 6,000 cattle and 43 crew members on board, the New York Times reports. The ship capsized after encountering stormy seas caused by Typhoon Maysak in the East China Sea.
Only two members of the crew have been found, with one man being pronounced dead at the scene. The carcasses of several dead cows have been found in the water as well. The surviving crew member, the ship’s chief officer, says he donned a life jacket and jumped into the water after the capsizing, but did not see any other crew members before he was rescued.
New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries has announced that it will temporarily stop considering export applications for live cattle as it learns more about what happened during the ship’s fateful journey, the Times reports. The statement did not elaborate or give a timeline for potential resumption.
China is the largest consumer of beef from New Zealand, overtaking the United States as the biggest market in 2019. Demand for red meat boomed in the last year as an outbreak of African Swine Fever disrupted pork production in China, forcing its importers to look for other suppliers, the Times reports.
Over the years New Zealand has tightened restrictions on the export of livestock for slaughter, essentially outlawing the trade, however many live animals are exported abroad for breeding, which is what the cattle on the Gulf Livestock 1 were destined for, the Times says. No cattle have been exported for slaughter purposes since 2007 in New Zealand, the Ministry for Primary Industries says. Exceptions are made if the ministry’s director general “judges the risks can be adequately managed,” according to its website, but the ministry says no exporter has ever applied for an exception.
The incident has raised questions about the safety and ethics of transporting livestock via ocean, with animal rights groups in New Zealand calling for a ban all together, the Times says. They say the transnational livestock trade is cruel, in part because the ships are usually converted cargo ships that do not meet animal welfare standards.
Related:
More than 40 Crew Missing After Cattle Ship Capsizes Off Japan
