Animal welfare organisations and halal bodies such as the MJC Halaal Trust are raising the alarm on South Africa’s live export of animals by sea for the purposes of slaughter. Led by an NGO called Beauty without Cruelty, a range of animal rights activists are planning to protest to Parliament on Saturday to urge the government to reassess its policies on animal exports and uphold the Animal Protection Act No 71 of 1962 and World Organisation for Animal Health minimum standards.

“We have seen cases of thousands of animals crammed together on a ship. Some of them suffer sea-sickness and end up neck-deep in their own faeces and urine, unable to move or access food and water. They literally cook to death because they suffer heat stress. It’s completely unacceptable,” said Toni Brockhoven, the national chairperson of Beauty without Cruelty.

On Friday, the National Council of SPCA’s high court bid to ban the live animal export trade in South Africa was struck off the roll. The NSPCA took legal action against the government, a Middle East meat import company and local farming trust, after 60 000 sheep had been loaded onto a vessel at the East London harbour in September, destined for the Middle East for slaughter.

“We believe there are plans to send another 70 000 local sheep abroad in the next week or two. This is not about whether one eats animals or not. We are calling on everyone with a conscience to join us in this protest,” said Brockhoven.

MJC Halaal Trust director Shaykh Achmat Sedick reiterated that the rights of the animal must be respected.

“Our concern is for the welfare of the animal. From an Islamic perspective, the condition of the animal is called ‘tayyib’. This means that when the animal is transported, the conditions must be conducive. If these standards are not met, then it is a violation of the ‘tayyib’ aspect of dealing with live animals.”

Sedick said he was concerned over the mass exporting of livestock as from previous cases, government could not provide the necessary safety conditions for the animals on sea-vessels.

“As Muslims, we need to support this effort as it is important for the interests of animals. The animal is a creation of Allah SWT. We need to be compassionate towards animals at all times.”

Brockhoven said they will hand over a memorandum calling on the government to review its support for live export for farm animals.

“We want animals to slaughtered according to Islamic rites locally and the body parts be sent over. That is the most reasonable and logical thing to do,” she said.

The protest takes place from Keizergracht street in District Six at 10am. For more information, contact Toni on 082 851 2316.

VOC