Free sheep? Pakistan says no
2003-09-22 13:43
Karachi - Pakistan has rejected Australia's free offer of 57 000 sheep stranded in the Persian Gulf since Saudi Arabia rejected them five weeks ago, an official said on Monday.
"We have formally conveyed our inability to handle such a huge consignment," Mumtaz Shaikh, additional secretary of the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock, told reporters.
The livestock are stuck in a dispute between Australian and Saudi Arabia over their level of infection with the viral illness "scabby mouth", which causes coldsore-like scabs on the animals' mouths.
An Australian veterinarian on board found 0.38% are infected with the illness and rated them in "excellent health" but the Saudis say six percent are infected. Five percent is agreed on by both Riyadh and Canberra as an acceptable infection rate.
The United Arab Emirates also rejected the sheep.
Put them down!
Animal rights activists in Australia have been demanding for weeks that the sheep, stranded at sea in the searing heat, be humanely put down as they had no commercial value and their destruction was the best of a bad range of options.
Shaikh said the prime reason for Pakistan's rejection was its lack of sufficient quarantine and veterinary facilities.
"We cannot accept the Australian offer for we don't have the required quarantine and veterinary facilities at home," he said.
"The Australians asked us to provide them with our quarantine and veterinary demands, but the fact still remains that some of them were infected... and it (the deal) has come to a virtual end," he said.
- AFP