Press Release

“The RSPCA’s latest campaign against our livestock export industry is confirmation that they should stick to what they know best - cats, dogs and budgerigars,” Pastoralists and Graziers’ Association spokesman Alex Burbury said today.

“We have evidence of the incompetence and unwillingness of the RSPCA in handling a number of animal welfare issues in remote areas of WA.”

“Yet they persist in attacking an industry that is now a world pacesetter, because those of us who depend heavily on livestock exports, have worked hard to make it that way.”

“RSPCA chooses to ignore the improving statistics of the livestock export industry, using flawed and deliberately biased reports in a quest for media attention.”

“Their claims that all commercial livestock can and should be processed are a nonsense.  Why has there been no rush to fill the serious processing ‘gap’ in WA?”

“The livestock export industry underwrites the profitability of WA’s sheep and cattle industries in many cases improve the well-being of sheep by stepping in when droughts and floods render animals unsuitable for slaughter and during time of disruption in the processing industry, such as the Western Meat Packers’ fire.

“Like the racing industry, livestock producers can do well without them and their highly selective, headline-grabbing tactics.”