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Spirit Of Tasmania - Polo Ponies Deaths |
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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OMG Are you serious ???? Thats horrific. He should be charged with something, surely ?? Who would ever want him to work with their horses ever again ?? |
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animals before people.
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Tontonan
Champion Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Status: Offline Points: 3898 |
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Seems curious to me.
On one hand we have the equine industry claiming transporting horses across Bass Strait has been a concern for some time especially with not being able to check on the horses during the passage. On the other we know that on a night of record heat Andrew Williams drove his truck off the ferry and did not bother to check on the horses until he arrived at Yarra Glen, 60kms down the road. (You'd reckon you might check how your 'best friends' were doing after 12 hours 'down below' on the hottest night of the year...well, I would) Then there is the question of why the death of the horses was not made public until almost two weeks later. The dead ponies were very well connected and this is the 'tally ho' crowd. I am not suggesting that the ferry operator is not at fault and it certainly sounds like carbon monoxide poisoning or heat stress or a combination of both but the investigation needs to be well scrutinized. 16 dead ponies on a routine crossing is not acceptable.
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3blindmice
Champion Joined: 22 Oct 2012 Status: Offline Points: 18105 |
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I suspect a heavy payout will be forthcoming. These people have very deep pockets:
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Carioca
Champion Joined: 13 Nov 2015 Status: Offline Points: 21824 |
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Hope they look into installing some type of air monitoring system, monotox's as well, confined space area's should always be paramount regarding live animals imo.
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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So they were his own ponies, yet he didnt stop and check them once he rolled off the ferry ?? After they had been confined all that time with no one checking them ? Thats really even odder,,,
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animals before people.
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maxamill
Champion Joined: 14 Jan 2011 Location: vic Status: Offline Points: 1336 |
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I smell a rat on this !! So someone that loves his horses that much ( or even if they didn't )
Doesn't look On them and say. "How ya going ya big boof heads" makes sure everything is ok Just goes Down gets in his truck and drives off with out looking after 39 deg 12 hrs in truck standing Please !! WT F F F !! After travelling that far even the harshest drivers would or even the laziest fck in the horse transport business would off I hope they really delve into this Truth will come out here I think , Insurance here we come !! Bit like the old snake in the feed bin trick Does not add up Had many a horse and cattle carted over 30 yrs not to many issues , I understand some animals get. "A travel sickness"but the whole lot |
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Tontonan
Champion Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Status: Offline Points: 3898 |
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Some were his others were Johnny Kahlbetzer's, the son of the agribusiness billionaire.
Williams account isn't entirely convincing in my opinion. If he was concerned enough to contact his second truck and ask his head groom how those horses were travelling then he obviously had some concern for the condition of his horses but he did not check them until he had driven to Yarra Glen (when his destination was Forbes, NSW). He says he found 2 horses barely alive and dropped them off at his mate's place before driving the 16 dead horses 400km to an Equine clinic in Wagga Wagga. That seems a long way to go on a hot night with 16 dead horses. Also, the 2 that were barely alive would have been a little more alive if he had checked them on collecting his truck from the ferry rather than waiting an hour to do so. It is conceivable that other horses may have been barely alive when they came off the ferry - who knows ? No one checked. Then there is the question of why it has taken so long for the story to be made public. Partly because the evidence was removed to Wagga Wagga I would expect, and partly because this all looks bad, really bad, for everyone involved. Imagine for a moment if the 16 dead ponies were racehorse returning from a Tasmanian campaign. Do you really think it would take a fortnight for the news to be made public ? Do you think the stewards and RSPCA would have been cool with dead horses being driven out to Yarra Glen and then on to Wagga Wagga before anyone was notified ? Not on your Nelly. The stewards would be all over them like a rash and the posse of the righteous would be on their high horses - and rightly so. Not nearly enough consideration has been given to the welfare of those horses all the way down the line.
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3blindmice
Champion Joined: 22 Oct 2012 Status: Offline Points: 18105 |
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Where did you get your 39 degrees from? My money would be on the silent killer Carbon Monoxide although it's impossible to believe that they don't have CO alarm systems on board.
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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Yes its sounds like C.M. to me, too, but !! Why just that truck load ? Wasnt there a second truck on board as well, with the same polo mob, and they all came off alive ??
It would be hot down there no doubt about it. Slowdown said unseasonably hot weather . Having been in vehicles driven onto these ferrys , and having to exit them and go top side, I can only say, its vile down there . Heat and fumes. One ferry I went on , we had to park next to a huge garbage truck and the smell made me vomit, literally, in the time it took me to get out and away from it. Admittedly not this ferry, but very similar. But OMG who would just drive off the ferry, after all those hours, ( with animals you claim to love to bits, ) and not stop to have a look at your horses and see if they were OK before driving on to where ever ?? There is more to this, I reckon. |
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animals before people.
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Tontonan
Champion Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Status: Offline Points: 3898 |
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I wouldn't discount heat stress as a contributing factor.
It gets damn hot 'down below' particularly on nights as hot as that one. In Melbourne the temperature did not drop below 27.8° overnight on the 28th/29th January. In Devonport the lowest temperature overnight was 22°, an all time record minimum high, the hottest night Devonport has ever known.
There are six vehicle decks that accommodate 500 vehicles on 'The Spirit'. I suspect that being such a hot morning people waiting to drive off the ferry would have started up their cars to run the air conditioners which would have only poisoned an already hellish atmosphere below deck. In any case, no one was thinking of the horses. |
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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So right, Tonto. And not even the driver in charge of them gave them a thought, which is very sad.
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animals before people.
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Carioca
Champion Joined: 13 Nov 2015 Status: Offline Points: 21824 |
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My money would be on CO inhalation, could it have come from the float in the first place,must be over a long period for two to survive, could well be no monitors as well.
this is very sad irrespective of any outcome. |
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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I know someone,,am friendly with them, and they breed and sell polo ponies, ( as well as TBs ), and those ponies cost a fortune. I cant understand how the driver could be so careless as to drive off and not check on them.
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animals before people.
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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animals before people.
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Carioca
Champion Joined: 13 Nov 2015 Status: Offline Points: 21824 |
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Talk about handball , this does not sit right with me, ....why sooooo long.
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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Yes, I think its very odd ????
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animals before people.
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Gay3
Moderator Group Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Location: Miners Rest Status: Offline Points: 52004 |
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When you want a half plausible cover up story, it takes time to dot the Is & cross all the Ts
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Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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Yeah, but what are they covering up ?? Horses are back and forth all the time. Were they dead before they got on the ferry ??
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animals before people.
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3blindmice
Champion Joined: 22 Oct 2012 Status: Offline Points: 18105 |
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DPIPWE's caution is probably understandable given the possibility of legal action. You'd want to get everything checked, know exactly what tests were done, by whom, and in what circumstances (oversight, accreditation etc).
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Isaac soloman
Champion Joined: 13 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6085 |
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does anyone remember this?
21 polo ponies die within day at same Fla. showcaseMysterious killer fells 21 valuable polo poniesBRIAN SKOLOFF, ASSOCIATED PRESS Published 5:30 am, Monday, April 20, 2009Polo Ponies Were Given Incorrect Medication |
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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Yes, I do. Could this be a similar thing ??
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animals before people.
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Isaac soloman
Champion Joined: 13 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6085 |
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was wondering the same.
it seems very familiar and makes more sense than carbon monoxide poisoning, otherwise there would be far more occurrences, of this. |
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Gay3
Moderator Group Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Location: Miners Rest Status: Offline Points: 52004 |
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Polo pony deaths: Animal welfare expert to quit over delays in Tasmanian investigations
By Peta Carlyon
Updated
A long-term adviser to the Tasmanian Government on animal welfare will quit his position over what he says is a "completely disappointing" lack of progress and deep-seated problems with the way it handles investigations.
Photo:
The principal solicitor for the Animal Law Institute Malcolm
Caulfield says he's increasingly worried about Tasmania's approach to
animal welfare law enforcement. (ABC News)
It comes as the Government faces mounting pressure over a lack of information about what caused the death of 16 polo ponies in the back of a truck that crossed Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania in January. The driver of the truck was national polo identity Andrew Williams. Principal Solicitor for the Melbourne-based Animal Law Institute, Malcolm Caulfield, wrote the first book on animal cruelty law in Australia and has sat on Tasmania's animal advisory board representing Animals Australia for more than a decade. Dr Caulfield said while he understood investigations could be complex matters, "the Spirit of Tasmania isn't some rickety old ship that's transporting things across Bass Strait". "So I presumed that we'd be hearing fairly quickly what was going on and what was needed to stop it happening again," he said.
Dr Caulfield told the ABC, pony deaths aside, the committee had been routinely kept in the dark by the Department of Primary Industries on animal welfare cases. Its recommendations are ignored and to continue to advise the Government would be "a waste of our time now", he said. Dr Caulfield also accused the Government of actively interfering in the work of the RSPCA. "I'm sorry to say that myself and Animals Australia, who I represent on the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, have decided the lack of progress and the attitude of the department and the Minister has been so disappointing that we think there's little point continuing on the committee," Dr Caulfield said.
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Former Australia polo captain Andrew Williams was driving the truck in which the ponies died. (Supplied: Willo Polo)
"We do that with regret because there have been very positive aspects in the committee in recent years ... it's been a very cooperative and positive environment and so that's why we're especially disappointed to say we think it's a bit of a waste of our time now." The committee was established under Tasmania's Animal Welfare Act 1993 and is tasked with advising the Minister of Primary Industries on animal welfare issues, in particular legislation and community education. It represents a cross-section of stakeholders, including farmers. Senior government figure Jeremy Rockliff was recently replaced in the role of Primary Industries Minister by Sarah Courtney. The committee's charter sets out that it be provided with "executive support by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks Water and the Environment". Dr Caulfield said department resources had been "cut to the bone and beyond". "I've had discussions with people, obviously confidentially with people in the department, who've indicated their frustration with the lack of leadership and will in relation to animal welfare," he said. Dr Caulfield said the deaths of the polo ponies were not the first time animal welfare problems had been associated with shipping in Tasmania. When
the committee had asked the Minister and department for updates on
various other issues including abattoir investigations, "the response
has been completely disappointing". RSPCA 'open to Government interference'Dr Caulfield also hit out at the charity role of the RSPCA, which he said was ill-equipped to uphold the law, and called for a independent animal welfare body in Tasmania. "I think RSPCA Tasmania is to open to interference by the Tasmanian Government," he said.
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The RSPCA's Chief Vet Andrew Byrne says the investigation into the pony deaths on the Spirit could take years. (Supplied: RSPCA)
"I've seen this before, in circumstances where the RSPCA is proposing to do something that doesn't suit the government, the government will quite overtly threaten them and threaten to pull their funding. "Now that isn't known publicly, but I've certainly been privy to conversations where that's a possible interpretation. "I'd rather see the enforcing body being entirely, as far as possible, independent of that sort of pressure." Earlier this month the RSPCA's Chief Vet Andrew Byrne told the ABC he'd requested information from the Government about the pony deaths, and called for its release as soon as possible. After being contacted by DPIPWE officials, Dr Byrne conceded the investigation could take years. The department received the ponies' autopsy results in February but has maintained details are "necessarily confidential". DPIPWE will not say if or when information will be made public, while the Minister has said she will not comment on the case, or her department's investigation. It follows calls for more information on the status of other animal cruelty investigations, including an 18-month old probe into an abattoir at Gretna, and the year-long investigation of another meatworks, at Cressy in Tasmania's north. "It makes me feel that both major political parties, left and right, Labor and Liberal, have missed the boat on this one, that they don't see this as an issue that's of concern to the public," Dr Caulfield said.
In a statement, the government said the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee played an "important role in providing advice". "Minister Rockliff during his tenure had constructive discussions with the committee. Minister Courtney is committed to continuing the constructive relationship," a spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said the government had increased funding to the RSPCA inspectorate from $400,000 to $550,000 and its "formal arrangements" for responding to allegations of animal cruelty "work well." It had also budgeted extra funds for livestock officers within Biosecurity Tasmania, the spokeswoman said. |
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Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
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Isaac soloman
Champion Joined: 13 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6085 |
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juxtapose this with the sheep ship deaths, similar interested parties involved.
where is a decent politician when you need one...
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Carioca
Champion Joined: 13 Nov 2015 Status: Offline Points: 21824 |
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This really stinks, there is a dark cloud hovering over this whole debacle, perfect story for 4 corners to get its teeth into, I would not be surprised if this went in a completely different direction.
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Glencoe
Champion Joined: 19 Jun 2011 Location: Mt. Gambier S.A Status: Offline Points: 1942 |
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Can someone answer these questions?
1) the horses we loaded at mid-day on one of Tassies hottest summer days. Was there water available on the truck in the ensuing 18 hours? 2) Is it true that the "trailer" was a de-commissioned refrigeration van? ( IF so would not it retain heat? ) 3) why didn't the owner/driver check them before leaving the dock? |
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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I think there are a lot of questions and answers, to be explained, around that whole scene.
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animals before people.
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Isaac soloman
Champion Joined: 13 Oct 2015 Status: Offline Points: 6085 |
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Were they insured?
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Gay3
Moderator Group Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Location: Miners Rest Status: Offline Points: 52004 |
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After being contacted by DPIPWE officials, Dr Byrne conceded the investigation could take years
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Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41483 |
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What a load of bollocks. This is the 21st century and they expect us to believe it takes years for vets to work out what killed a horse ???
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animals before people.
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