Australian authorities are investigating claims that sheep exported to the Middle East have been mistreated at a local abattoir – the sixth investigation involving sheep shipped by Perth-based exporter Livestock Shipping services in seven years.
The investigation relates to allegations sheep at the Hijazi & Ghosheh slaughterhouse near Amman in Jordan, which is approved and inspected under Australia’s export supply chain assurance system (Escas), were killed in a way which breached those guidelines. It is the second time the slaughterhouse has been reported for alleged breach of Escas rules in two years.
The allegations come as Dr Katherine Clift, the Australian inspector general of animal welfare and live animal exports, is due to release two reports into how the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry handles livestock exports and responds to major incidents.
The Albanese government last year legislated to phase out the live export of sheep by sea by 2028.
Covert vision captured by Animals Australia during Eid al-Adha in June, and seen by Guardian Australia, shows sheep with their throats cut, kicking and gasping as they are tossed alive to the abattoir floor.
“The vision provides clear evidence that the sheep are conscious and experiencing pain as their open neck wounds strike a raised metal bar while being dragged along the slaughter table,” Animals Australia lawyer Shatha Hamade said.
Hamade said the footage “not only raises serious animal welfare concerns” but also constituted a “direct breach” of Escas rules, which include that once sheep have their throats cut, they are not to be moved or have the wound touched until the animal is unconscious.
This contrasts with domestic rules for the export meat market, which requires sheep to be electrically stunned prior to slaughter.
It’s the sixth time since 2018 that animals exported by Perth-based Livestock Shipping Services (LSS) have been investigated by Australian authorities for alleged breaches of Escas rules.
LSS is owned by Jordanian umbrella company Hijazi & Ghosheh, which also runs the slaughterhouse at the centre of the current investigations.
In July 2021, shipping of Australian animals to another Hijazi & Ghosheh-owned slaughterhouse in Jordan was permanently suspended, following similar breaches of welfare rules.
In 2023, an undercover investigation by Animals Australia alleged that Australian sheep exported to Oman by LSS had been sold outside approved supply chains, in violation of Escas rules. The department has listed the incident as under investigation, but has not yet released an outcome.
Escas was established in 2012 in response to a public outcry after a Four Corners investigation, which showed undercover footage taken by Animals Australia of cattle being beaten, kicked and stunned with sledgehammers before being slaughtered in Indonesia.
Hamade said Australia lacks jurisdiction to police offshore processing facilities.
“The sanctions imposed by the department of agriculture are generally tokenistic – such as assigning an extra observer on a future shipment,” Hamade said.
“For a multimillion-dollar live export company, this amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist.”
LSS did not respond to questions about allegations it had breached Escas rules.
The company’s website states it has exported more than 3.3 million sheep and 500,000 cows from Australia to overseas markets in the past five years.
“LSS is committed to ensuring high standards of animal care and welfare are maintained at all stages of the live export process,” the website states.
The agriculture department did not answer detailed questions from Guardian Australia, including whether the slaughterhouse at the centre of the latest allegations would also be suspended from accepting Australian sheep.
“The department can confirm that it received information from Animals Australia in June 2025, alleging Escas breaches during Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) 2025,” a spokesperson said.
“It is not appropriate to provide further detail at this time.”
The Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council CEO, Mark Harvey-Sutton, said the exporter was working closely with officials.
“At this stage, any breaches of Escas appear to be minor and corrective actions have been implemented,” Harvey-Sutton said.
Dr Jed Goodfellow, co-founder and policy director at lobby group the Australian Alliance for Animals, said the Australian government relied completely on the exporter to report non-compliances with Escas.
“Whenever Animals Australia is able to have investigators in the field, almost 100% of the time they are able to detect non-compliance with Escas,” Goodfellow said.
“If it were not for having an independent third party reviewing it, the issues would never be reported.”
In a 2021 review of Escas, the then inspector general of live animal exports, Ross Carter, recommended the department improve compliance monitoring.
“Loss of control and traceability, sometimes with poor animal welfare outcomes, still occurs at low but chronic levels,” Carter said.
“I have recommended further exploring the use of visual recording and electronic scanning technologies in markets or for exporters where demonstrated systemic issues occur.”
Clift’s live exports review and audit is expected to be released in September.
Livestock, including cattle, can spend weeks at sea and, according to veterinarian Lynn Simpson, commonly suffer heat stress, starvation, disease and injury during the journey. Simpson was the vet on board more than 50 live export voyages and now campaigns against the trade.
Australia is the largest exporter of sheep meat globally, and the industry was worth $4.5bn in 2023, according to government figures. However, live export by sea makes up less than 2% of this trade, with 99% of the live exports produced in Western Australia.
The pending live sheep ban had been the subject of successive protests by advocacy group Keep the Sheep which accelerated a split between the Victorian and national farmers’ federations.
As recently as 28 March, farmers and truck drivers blocked major roads in Perth in protest against the ban. But less than three months later, Keep the Sheep announced it would halt its campaign following Labor’s landslide election victory in May.
The live export of cattle, to ports such as Indonesia, will continue.
