An effective regulatory system is only as good as it is policed and enforced.
Each year, as the Festival of Sacrifice approaches, millions of animals move through supply chains that stretch from Australian farms to distant markets — and the question of what happens to them once they cross the horizon has never been fully answered. This year, an undercover investigator documented fourteen locations in Oman where Australian sheep were being sold and slaughtered outside the regulatory system Australia relies upon to protect them. The footage has arrived at a moment when the nation is already debating whether live sheep exports should continue at all, forcing a reckoning between the limits of jurisdiction and the reach of moral responsibility.
- A decade-long investigator captured footage of Australian sheep with bound legs being dragged and slaughtered at unapproved sites across Oman — evidence gathered before the Festival of Sacrifice even began.
- Despite receiving GPS coordinates, video, audio, and marketplace URLs weeks in advance, the Australian government did not retrieve the animals or halt the slaughter before it occurred.
- Australia's ESCAS framework places full welfare responsibility on exporters, but critics expose a structural flaw: the government has no enforcement power on foreign soil, leaving compliance to be discovered only by activists.
- Two Western Australian exporters shipped all the sheep in question — one declined to comment, the other acknowledged the allegations while defending its protocols.
- An independent panel must report by September 30 on the planned phase-out of live sheep exports, with industry warning of 123 million dollars in annual losses and hundreds of jobs at stake in WA.
- The Oman footage lands as a direct challenge to the industry's core argument — that Australian presence in these markets protects animal welfare — suggesting the protection may exist more on paper than in practice.
Shatha Hamade has spent a decade traveling to countries where Australian livestock are sent, posing as a buyer and documenting what she finds. This past May and June, she was in Oman during Eid al-Adha, the annual peak of livestock slaughter. What she recorded alarmed her enough to file formal complaints with Australia's Department of Agriculture immediately — before the Festival of Sacrifice had even begun.
At fourteen locations across Oman, she found Australian sheep being sold outside the approved supply chains that exporters are legally required to maintain. She provided the department with GPS coordinates, video, audio recordings, and links to online marketplaces advertising Australian sheep for private sale and on-site slaughter. She urged the government to retrieve the animals and return them to compliant facilities. The government did not act in time.
Australia's Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System — ESCAS — has been in place for over a decade, requiring exporters to account for every step of an animal's journey: transport, handling, and slaughter. But the footage Hamade later provided to ABC's 7.30 program showed sheep with legs bound, animals dragged by the head or leg, and slaughter occurring at sites the system was never meant to permit. All Australian sheep exported to Oman this year came from Western Australia, shipped by two exporters. When Hamade posed as a buyer at a feedlot linked to one of them, a staff member offered to sell her Australian sheep for private slaughter, noting he had already sold forty that way.
The Department of Agriculture announced an investigation on June 21 and described ESCAS as world-leading, noting that Australia is the only country among more than one hundred livestock exporters to impose animal welfare conditions beyond its own borders. Agriculture Minister Murray Watt called the footage very concerning but declined to interfere with the independent process. Hamade's counter is pointed: a regulatory system is only as strong as its enforcement, and ESCAS cannot be enforced overseas because Australia has no jurisdiction there. The breaches are being found by activists, not regulators.
The timing sharpens everything. The federal government has committed to phasing out live sheep exports by sea, and an independent panel must report by September 30. Western Australia's government warns the phase-out could cost the agricultural sector 123 million dollars annually and nearly 400 jobs. The industry argues that withdrawal would eliminate Australia's influence over welfare standards in importing countries. But the footage from Oman — gathered at locations that were supposed to be compliant — raises a harder question: if the system's protections are not being enforced, how much influence was ever really there.
Shatha Hamade speaks Arabic fluently, which made her the right person to walk into livestock markets across Oman posing as a buyer, a body camera hidden on her body. For a decade, she has been doing this kind of work—traveling to countries where Australian sheep and cattle arrive, documenting what happens to them once they leave Australian soil. In May and June of this year, she was there during Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, when the slaughter of livestock reaches its annual peak.
What she found alarmed her enough to file formal complaints with Australia's Department of Agriculture within days. At fourteen separate locations across Oman, she documented Australian sheep being sold outside the approved supply chains that Australian exporters are legally required to maintain. Many of these places were offering on-site slaughter on concrete slabs. She provided the department with GPS coordinates, video evidence, audio recordings, phone numbers, and URLs to online marketplaces where Australian sheep were being advertised for sale. She did this all before the Festival of Sacrifice began, urging the government to act immediately and direct exporters to retrieve the animals and return them to compliant facilities. The government did not retrieve them.
Australia's Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System, or ESCAS, has been in place for over a decade. It is supposed to ensure that when an exporter ships livestock overseas, those animals stay within approved vehicles, feedlots, and slaughterhouses. The exporter bears responsibility for every step: transport, handling, husbandry, slaughter. It sounds comprehensive on paper. But the footage Hamade gathered during the Festival of Sacrifice—which she later provided to ABC's 7.30 program—shows something different. Sheep with their legs bound together. Animals being dragged by the leg or head. Slaughter happening at locations the system was never meant to permit.
All the Australian sheep exported to Oman this year came from Western Australia, shipped by two exporters: Livestock Shipping Services and Kuwait Livestock Transport and Trading, which operates as Rural Export and Trading WA. When Hamade posed as a buyer at a feedlot associated with one of these exporters, a staff member told her she could purchase Australian sheep for private slaughter. The seller mentioned he had already sold forty sheep this way. One of the exporters declined to respond to questions. The other acknowledged the allegations but said it maintains professional networks and established protocols.
The Department of Agriculture announced an investigation on June 21, after receiving Hamade's complaints. It said it had taken regulatory action requiring exporters to implement stronger controls and extra surveillance. The department's statement to 7.30 emphasized that ESCAS is a world-leading system, that no regulatory framework can guarantee zero non-compliance, and that Australia is the only country among over one hundred livestock exporters that requires specific animal welfare conditions for exported livestock once they arrive in importing countries. It also noted that no other Australian sheep have been exported to Oman since the allegations surfaced. Agriculture Minister Murray Watt called the footage "very concerning" but said he would not interfere with the independent investigation.
But Hamade's central argument cuts differently. An effective regulatory system is only as good as its enforcement, she told 7.30. ESCAS is not policed by the Australian government in importing countries because the government lacks the power to do so. Everything happens overseas, beyond Australian jurisdiction. The breaches are only being discovered because Animals Australia sends investigators there. The industry argues that if Australia withdraws from these markets, it loses its influence to maintain standards. Hamade counters that this influence is illusory if the breaches are not being caught by regulators, only by activists.
The timing matters. In March, the federal Labor government announced it would phase out live sheep exports by sea, a commitment first made in 2018 after footage emerged of dead and dying animals aboard a ship. An independent panel is reviewing the decision and must report by September 30. The Western Australian government has warned that a fifteen percent reduction in the state's sheep flock could cost the agricultural industry up to 123 million dollars annually and eliminate 387 jobs. The industry council says the phase-out will cause irreparable damage to farmers and to Australia's relationships with Middle Eastern trading partners. The opposition says ESCAS allows for improvements and that withdrawing would remove Australia's ability to influence standards. But the footage from Oman, captured at locations that were supposed to be compliant, suggests the system's protections may be weaker than its defenders claim.
Notable Quotes
An effective regulatory framework is only as good as it is policed and enforced. ESCAS is not policed by the Australian government, and is largely unenforced, because everything is happening in country.— Shatha Hamade, Animals Australia lawyer
The images presented are very concerning, but it would be inappropriate to draw conclusions whilst an investigation is still underway.— Agriculture Minister Murray Watt
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that Hamade found these breaches in Oman specifically, rather than somewhere else?
Because Oman is a major market for Australian sheep, and because she found them during Eid al-Adha—the moment when the most animals are being slaughtered. She was there at the peak moment, and she documented it systematically. She wasn't just observing; she was posing as a buyer, which means she was testing whether the system actually works.
The department says it took action after her complaints. Doesn't that suggest the system is working?
It depends on what you mean by working. They tightened controls after the fact. But Hamade had given them everything—locations, coordinates, evidence—before the Festival of Sacrifice. She was asking them to prevent the breaches from happening. They didn't.
What's the core disagreement between the government and Hamade about ESCAS?
The government says ESCAS is world-leading and that it allows problems to be identified and dealt with. Hamade says a system is only as good as its enforcement, and ESCAS isn't enforced by anyone in Australia because Australia has no power in those countries. The breaches are only being found because she's there looking.
So who's actually policing what happens to the sheep once they land in Oman?
Officially, the exporters are responsible. In practice, no one is. That's the gap.
Does the industry have a point about losing influence if Australia stops exporting?
Maybe. But the argument assumes Australia currently has influence. If the breaches are only being caught by undercover investigators, not by any official oversight, then what influence is there to lose?
What happens next?
The independent panel reviewing the live export phase-out has until September 30 to report. Hamade's footage is part of that conversation now. And the Department of Agriculture's investigation is still underway.