Fremantle council votes to end live sheep exports
© Freemantle Herald
City of Fremantle has now joined WA Greens Member, Lynn MacLaren, and Federal Labour Member for Fremantle, Melissa Parke, in opposing live exports on the grounds of cruelty.
As a result of this motion, the City of Fremantle has committed to taking on a leadership role, working with other spheres of Government, animal welfare groups, industry and the community, to develop strategies to support this policy.
Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said the time had come for the "cruel and unnecessary live sheep trade to be phased out and replaced with a trade that supports local jobs”.
“This motion is not designed to move the trade south from Fremantle to Kwinana. We want it stopped all together and replaced with the less cruel and better economic outcome of frozen meat,” Mr Pettitt said.
WSPA Campaigns Manager Emily Reeves said “WSPA and the 83,000 Australians who have recently joined the Humane Chain, united against live sheep exports, commend the Fremantle Council for taking this position.”
Every year around 4 million Australian sheep are sent live to the Middle East, often to be handled and slaughtered in ways that would neither be legal nor tolerated here. A large majority of these shipments leave from Fremantle port.
“This is a very important step in our campaign to end live sheep exports and follows the unprecedented success of The Body Shop activity and the launch of our harrowing investigation into the trade, earlier this year.” said Ms Reeves.
“It’s time the Government listened to the concerns of the Australian people and ends this cruel and unnecessary trade once and for all.”
Please help end live exports by meeting with your local Member of Parliament. Email humanechain@wspa.org.au for a Humane Chain MP meeting pack.