First live cattle export to #Libya for 16 years

Live cattle exports to Libya will resume after 16 years

Work is under way at Waterford Port to assemble the first shipment of live cattle to be sent to Libya in 16 years.
A total of 2,900 animals will be loaded onto a ship adapted for cattle export and approved by Department of Agriculture officials last month.
The ship will depart on its eight-to-ten day voyage to Tripoli tomorrow.

The resumption of the live cattle trade with Libya has been welcomed by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and farming organisations.
Exporters have been buying cattle at marts around the country for several weeks.
The livestock is being transported to Waterford Port, where they will be loaded onto the specially adapted Al Mahmoud Express.
A number of animal welfare groups opposed to the live cattle trade will stage protests at Waterford Port later today.
They claim it is cruel to transport animals in this way.
However, a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said Ireland has the strictest welfare regulations for animal transport by ship of all EU countries.
Ireland has a long history of live cattle export to Libya, which ended in 1996, due to the BSE outbreak and the phasing down of EU export tariffs.
At the peak of the trade in 1980 Libya imported around 144,000 Irish cattle
 rte.ie/news