September 27, 2003	Saturday	Rajab 29, 1424

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SYDNEY, Sept 26: Australia has struck a secret deal to offload stranded sheep from the so-called “ship of death” in Iraq in time for the Ramazan, it was reported on Friday.

Amid burgeoning public outcry over the sheep’s plight and an unprecedented advertising campaign by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the government is keen to land the sheep in the Middle East.

The shipload of 57,000 live sheep left Australia almost two months ago for Saudi

Arabia but was rejected because an excessive number were suffering from the disease scabby mouth, a claim dismissed by on-board Australian veterinarians.

The sheep have since been stranded on the Dutch-owned Cormo Express in the Gulf in sweltering conditions which have led to around 6,000 deaths, the RSPCA said.

Canberra has so far failed to find a taker for the sheep in negotiations with 10 countries despite offering them free.

Melbourne’s Age newspaper reported on Friday the government had struck a secret deal with Iraq for the sheep to be slaughtered for Ramazan.

Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said Australian livestock exporters, keen to put an end to the public relations disaster, would buy back the surviving sheep and give them away.—AFP