Pakistan court halts culling of sick Australian sheep

A court in Pakistan has given an order to Pakistan Livestock and Meat Company, the importer of sheep from Australia that were originally meant to be exported to Bahrain, for halting the culling of the animals.

The West Australian company, which exported the animals form Australia, has said that the remaining animals are being cared well. About half of the sheep have already been culled by authorities in Pakistan. The decision to cull the sheep was taken after sheep tested positive for salmonella bacteria, which can also infect human beings.

The ship had arrived in port city of Karachi two weeks after the authorities in Bahrain did not allow the ship to unload sheep in the country due to health concerns. Australian shipping company, Wellard Rural Exports had said that Pakistani veterinary authorities had cleared the shipment after conducting quarantine checks.

Roshan Ali Shaikh, a senior public official said that laboratory tests have shown that sheep are infected with salmonella and actinomyces, which could infect humans. The Ocean Drover had left Australia with 75,000 sheep over a month ago and has already unloaded 53,000 of them at two other ports until officials in Bahrain found that some of the sheep were infected with "orf" or scabby mouth disease

The case is now in the Sindhd High Court, which has ordered an independent test on eh health of the animals before a decision.