Animals’ Angels visit Leongatha saleyard. The sign on the front of the facility states “Diseased and crippled animals will not be accepted”. It appears this is not the case because we document a cow with a red and swollen right eye in a sale pen. We notify the DEDJTR (Govt Dept responsible for welfare) who have two officers present and she is removed from sale and taken to another pen.
The DEDJTR officer present decides, she is fit to transport to either a farm or slaughter. The veterinarian with Animals’ Angels puts forward the case the DEDJTR would lose control of the animal and she might not be treated on farm. The DEDJTR decide she can go direct to slaughter. The fact the yard fails to have a firearm on site may have been a contributing factor in their decision, although we are sure the DEDJTR should have a firearm with them and so she could have been shot.
We also observe a sheep not bearing weight on his left hind leg. He has a red stripe along his back which seems to indicate he is not fit to be sold or transported. When he stands still his foot knuckles over and he lifts his leg when running so is lame.
Again, we notify the DEDJTR officer who decides he is okay to transport, even after we give him the paperwork showing lame animals are not fit to transport. Despite our advice he arranges for the sheep to be put in a dog box, which because of the size of the box will prevent the sheep from moving. Although the dog box is an acceptable size we are not satisfied with the whole situation. This will be raised in our report.
