Department of Agriculture made a ‘major failing’ of live sheep vessel diverted back to WA

There has been an update on the live sheep export vessel which was en-route to the Middle East before it had to return to Western Australia. The federal government ordered the ship to divert last week after the Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea. The Department of Agriculture released a statement on Thursday responding to reports that some of the animals had to be offloaded because of a range of health reasons. They’ve said no animals have so far been offloaded and there are no reports of health and welfare concerns. WA Farmers President John Hassell says the federal Department of Agriculture has made a “major failing” of the situation. “They’ve known for nine days what could have gone on, they haven’t been able to categorically say, ‘this is our preferred course of action’ until yesterday, and I think they finally done that,” he told Sky News Australia. “But the vessel’s been sitting around for four days in the process – I think that’s pretty disappointing.”