Karachi, Sept 22: 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
today.
"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 a news agency.
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 on-board veterinarian found 0.38 per cent
are infected with the illness and rated them in "excellent
health" but the Saudis say six per cent 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.
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.
Bureau Report
