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JULY 2015 DOGGIERESCUE.COM MAGAZINE 13

It was not until March 2015 after two years and thousands of sledge hammered Australian
cattle later that the industry, so devoted to live exports, recognised that there was a serious
problem. And what was their response? An end to the live export trade? Well….no, it was a
six point plan. A plan which in effect is a one-point plan. To see the reasons why go to:

http://www.animalsaustralia.org/features/live-export-vietnam-problems.php

The fact that five out of six points in the industry’s To the average law-abiding citizen, the presence of
action plan address things the industry should Australian laws is enough to respect that they should be
already be doing reveals just how dire the situation followed. Not so in the live export industry.
in Vietnam is. It also reveals:
Yet what is more galling to me about these revelations by
1. Industry bosses do not automatically expect Animals Australia is that the abuse of the sort described
all exporters to comply with the ESCAS. Or above in the live export trade, has been going on for over
put another way, the industry expects thirty years and which I will document here over the next
exporters will probably flout the law; few months. At the end of the day, is it that money is vastly
more important than any pretence to animal welfare – at
2. Live exporters require ‘extra encouragement’ least on this industrial scale – in a country like Australia
to abide by Australian law. This is hardly that ought to know better? Could it also be that we see no
surprising given the Australian Government’s connection between the sledge hammering of cattle to
unfettered support of live exports and its death and the beheading of human beings in Northern Iraq
apparent unwillingness to enforce its own by criminal gangs intent on ending civilisation as we know
regulations or punish offenders. it? A long bow I know, but then violence against animals
begets violence against other human beings.

However, juxtaposed against this horror, is the glimmer
of hope for animal welfare advocates, at least in NSW,
with the election to the Upper House of State parliament in
March, of Mark Pearson from The Animal Justice Party.
Putting aside the vision of an animal friendly MP sitting
alongside members of The Shooters and Fishers Party,
Mr Pearson now has the opportunity and responsibility to
make a difference in NSW in animal welfare.

Mr Pearson, a former executive director of Animal
Liberation Australia, will oppose a planned crackdown on
activists who break into farms to secretly film suspected
animal cruelty, he will fight to oppose cruelty in the
kangaroo meat trade and seek a ban on battery egg
farming. He is also an advocate of action against puppy
farms, the high rate of animal euthanasia in pounds,
hunting in national parks and mining that disturbs animal
habitats.

Despite being a lone voice in Parliament, Mr Pearson
insists that he will be a strong voice and will seek support