Pakistan has rejected Australia’s free offer of 57 000 sheep stranded on a ship in the Gulf since Saudi Arabia rejected them five weeks ago, an official said on Monday.
”We have formally conveyed our inability to handle such a huge consignment,” said Mumtaz Shaikh, additional secretary of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.
The livestock are at the heart of a dispute between Australian and Saudi Arabia over their level of infection with the scabby mouth viral illness, which causes cold-sore-like scabs on the animals’ mouths.
An Australian on-board veterinarian found 0,38% are infected with the illness and rated them in ”excellent health”, but the Saudis say 6% are infected.
The United Arab Emirates has also rejected the sheep.
Earlier Monday, animal rights activists in Australia demanded 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. — Sapa-AFP