Blow to bid to ban live sheep shipping

The National Council of SPCAs (Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals) has suffered a serious setback in its bid to secure a total ban on the export of sheep from SA shores in ships that cross the equator. A Daily Dispatch report says the Eastern Cape High Court (Makhanda) has dismissed an application that would allow the NSPCA to convert its case from motion proceedings to action proceedings – which would have permitted it to call expert witnesses to testify. The NSPCA launched its motion proceedings in 2020 asking the court to issue a blanket ban on this export practice because it maintains that sheep suffer such a degree of heat stress in the closed ship environment that it amounts to terrible cruelty prohibited by South African law. But Middle East livestock exporter Al Mawashi and its parent company Livestock Transport & Trading Company believe a unique ventilation system in their ships will prevent any heat harm to the sheep. But the NSPCA – recognising that there was a dispute of fact over whether ship ventilation systems might mitigate heat stress – applied to the High Court in April to convert the motion proceedings to action proceedings. But Judge Nozuko Mjali said the court rules did not permit this. She said the NSPCA could have foreseen a dispute of fact over heat stress as it had emerged in previous litigation between it and Al Mawashi. More than 1 700 pages had already been filed in the motion proceedings and to now convert it to trial proceedings would prejudice the respondents, including the Department of Agriculture and the state veterinary services in the Eastern Cape.