Sheep deaths during flight under probe

Lester Hio The Straits Times AsiaOne 7 Oct 14;

Singapore authorities are investigating why 174 sheep imported from Australia for today's korban ritual to mark Hari Raya Haji died during the flight from Perth.

Close to one in 10 of the 2,200 sheep were dead on arrival after the five-hour flight landed here on Thursday.

This was the first time so many deaths had occurred in such a consignment, said the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis).

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) is examining the carcasses, while the Singapore Mosques Korban Committee (JKMS) is working with transporter SIA Cargo to investigate.

Korban - the Islamic ritual commemorating Prophet Ibrahim's obedience to God because of his willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail - is expected to go on as planned today.

The shortfall in sheep has mostly been made up for by extra lambs out of the 1,700 imported from Ireland.

Another 59 came from a buffer in the supply numbers. The animals from Ireland were priced at $575, while the ones from Australia cost $499.

More than 3,000 animals went to 26 mosques and organisations for the ritual, after which the meat will be distributed to family, friends, and the poor and needy.

AVA, which inspected the sheep and sent several of the carcasses for post-mortem, has ruled out the possibility of infectious disease, which could constitute a health risk to anyone eating the meat.

The flight time was too short for such diseases to take hold and spread, and the remaining animals were healthy and had passed quarantine, explained Dr Yap Him Hoo, group director of AVA's quarantine and inspection group.

"Clear signs" such as organ haemorrhage indicated that heat stress was the likely culprit, he added.

Two years ago, new livestock rules in Australia required exporters of livestock meant for slaughter to comply with internationally accepted animal welfare standards.

Mosques in Singapore had to prove that they met those standards, including giving each animal at least 0.6 sq m of space in its holding pen, and getting only trained, appointed personnel to carry out the slaughter.

Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim said on the sidelines of a seminar at the Lifelong Learning Institute that Singapore had begun to diversify its supply of korban animals to reduce the impact of incidents like Thursday's.

"Last year, we experimented with a small supply from Canada and a slightly larger supply from Ireland this year," he said. "In so doing, we can minimise the risk of such unexpected events."

Shipment of livestock for Korban arrives in Singapore
Nur Isyana Isaman and Saifulbahri Ismail Channel NewsAsia 4 Oct 14;

SINGAPORE: The shipment of livestock from Australia and Ireland for the Korban or sacrificial rites this year has arrived. 2,200 Australian sheep came on Thursday (Oct 2), and 1,700 Irish lambs arrived on Friday (Oct 3).

However, 174 sheep from Australia and one from Ireland did not survive the flight. In a news conference on Saturday (Oct 4), the Singapore Mosques Korban Committee said the dead sheep were inspected on site at the airport, and a few taken for post mortem.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said initial findings indicated heat stress as the cause of death. Singapore Airlines Cargo said the consignment was handled strictly according to international standards. Investigations showed the aircraft systems to be normal.

Despite the deaths, the Committee reassured those who have registered to perform the Korban rites on Sunday that they can still do so. It said the larger quantity of livestock imported this year, can compensate any shortfall. The Committee said in previous years, between five and seven sheep die when they were flown in from other countries.

At a separate community event, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said the unfortunate incident is a learning point which will be used to deal with future unforeseen circumstances.

"We are thankful the initial investigations by AVA has confirmed that the animals did not die of any disease. I think that's very important for us. So, the animals that will be for the annual Korban exercise tomorrow are all fit for Korban," said Dr Yaacob.

Dr Yap Him Hoo, Group Director, Quarantine and Inspection Group at AVA, explained why infectious disease could be ruled out as the cause of the animals' deaths: "For infectious disease there is always an incubation period. So that four to six hours is too short an incubation period, and the remaining animals that we saw are all healthy. That's the reason why we can say that infectious disease is not the cause of deaths in this case."

- CNA/by