Chrissie Hynde has penned an open letter to our PM, imploring him to ban the live export of animals, a process which is shameful, barbaric and cruel – to say the very least.
“Live export is recognised internationally as Australia’s most shameful abuse of animals”, Hynde writes
“I have protested your country’s live exports to Dubai and elsewhere while touring the Middle East yet still, every year, millions of sheep and cattle endure the worst suffering imaginable aboard these ships.
“Consider the plight of these sheep, discarded by the wool industry and then crammed inside a boat among thousands of other frightened animals.
“They suffer from intense heat, and the air becomes thick with ammonia, as weeks’ worth of urine and feces accumulate at their feet. Last year, thousands of sheep died on just one ship bound for the Middle East.
“The exact death toll is not known, since their bodies decomposed so rapidly in the sweltering heat.”
She then describes a number of other ways these animals die – none of which is too pretty.
“PETA and other groups have repeatedly found that the Australian government cannot guarantee any kind of welfare standards for the animals you send overseas.”
Hynde is currently touring Australia with The Pretenders. Read her full letter below.
