Here’s the ad:
Dubai – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia had
hoped to place a full-page ad highlighting the animal suffering
associated with live-sheep imports in Open Skies, the in-flight magazine
of the airline Emirates, but the airline has grounded the idea. The ad
shows sheep crammed together aboard a ship and reads, “And You Thought
Economy Class Was Cramped!”, in both English and Arabic. The ad goes on
to describe the abusive conditions under which sheep are exported from
Australia to the Middle East and how thousands of animals suffer and die
en route. PETA is asking Gulf states to refuse to purchase live
imported animals. Unfortunately, the publishing team for Open Skies told
PETA, “Emirates does not allow us to carry these type of artworks”.
“There is no humane way to ship tens of thousands of sheep who are
jam-packed into stalls and mired in their own waste”, says PETA
spokesperson Nadia Montasser. “Emirates has a highly esteemed economy
class, but even flying in the cargo hold would be luxurious compared to
what these sheep have to endure. Anyone who purchases these hideously
abused animals is fuelling the notoriously cruel live-transport
industry.”
Sheep transported to the Middle East from Australia are packed
tightly together on enormous, multi-tiered ships, where crowded
conditions cause many of the animals to be trampled to death or to
starve when they cannot reach food and water troughs. Sheep are confined
amid their own waste in extreme heat on ships that hold up to 125,000
animals. PETA is calling for an immediate end to the export of live
animals from Australia.
According to Islamic law, animals slaughtered for food should not be
cruelly handled or transported and should receive adequate food and
water. “If animals have been subjected to cruelties in their breeding,
transport, slaughter, or in their general welfare, meat from them is
considered impure and unlawful to eat (haram)”, said the late Imam BA
Hafiz al-Masri. “The flesh of animals killed by cruel methods
(Al-Muthiah) is carrion (Al-Mujathamadh). Even if these animals have
been slaughtered in the strictest manner, if cruelties were inflicted on
them otherwise, their flesh is still forbidden food (haram)”.
The Quran and the Prophet Muhammad taught that “an act of cruelty to a beast is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being”.
