Animal Activists Claims: Meat and Livestock Australia Follows inaccurate and inflammatory claims by PETA Dubai,

The Australian Meat and Livestock Industry today warned industry and political leaders in the Middle East to be wary of outrageous claims being made by animal activists. The warnings come following inaccurate and inflammatory claims made by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) that the Qatar Government will axe Australian livestock imports due to animal health concerns. “We cannot say this strongly enough - do not trust PETA”, said Dr. Nigel Brown, Meat and Livestock Australia’s (MLA) Manager of Livestock Services in the Middle East and Africa Region. The inflammatory claims were made shortly after PETA met with officials of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture (MMAA) in Qatar. Two respected industry representatives in attendance at the meeting, Mr. Mohamad Ismail, Director General and Mr. Khaled Al Khater, CEO of Mawashi, the company that handles all live imports in Qatar, have flatly refuted PETA’s claims. “What PETA mentioned about Qatar stopping imports of Australian livestock is not true,” Mr. Al Khater said. Mr. Ishmail said he was astonished, and also said that this is not true, adding there was no intention but to continue collaboration with the Australian meat and livestock industry. Nigel Brown said the Australian industry is also angered by PETA’s false remarks. “Australia has a strong relationship with Qatar. Collaboration has extended to handling, general management, animal health, feedlot design, nutrition and water management, transport, staff training and processing design and operation. There will always be constant dialogue about how our two countries can work together to improve animal care.” He said an independent study comparing world live export standards showed Australia leads the international live export community in standards of animal care. “Animal care is the number one priority for Aussie farmers and exporters,” Nigel Brown said: “Our colleagues in the Middle East need to be aware that PETA cannot be trusted and this is just another example of the havoc PETA’s games cause.” A 2004 survey published in the US showed that PETA was the least trusted of the surveyed not-for-profit organisations. “PETA’s real agenda is not animal welfare but to completely end the use of animals by humans for food, clothing, pets, work and research,” said Nigel Brown. Qatar imports around 200,000 sheep from Australia every year. Ramadan has now started, ending with Eid, so demand for live sheep is high. “Lies like this seem designed to distress Muslims who care about animal cruelty and the halal nature of their food. They can undermine the strategy of local leaders who are ensuring the supply of healthy meat for their people and destroy the multi-billion dollar import industries needed to provide food security for the region. “Industry and political leaders in the Middle East must be warned that this latest outburst of misinformation is yet another example of why no-one should believe what PETA says. “It would appear that they are deliberately attempting to gain access to meetings and facilities just so that they can distort the truth that they find,” Mr Brown concluded. –