A steer was euthanised at Fremantle Harbour yesterday, after making a bid for freedom by jumping from the Al Shuwaikh export ship which was being loaded for Kuwait, reports Perthnow.
What happened?
After jumping over the ship’s high railing into the water, the steer swam around the harbour for at least an hour, with boats from Fremantle Ports and water police, and a rubber dinghy, in hot pursuit.
Despite major efforts to save the animal, the vet responsible decided to euthanise the almost-500 kg animal, for safety and animal welfare reasons.
A spokesman for Rural Export and Trading WA, which was in charge of the Al Shuwaikh shipment, said on very rare occasions cattle did jump overboard.
Past similar animal rescues
He said efforts were made to rescue the animal and past attempts of a similar nature had usually ended successfully.
In 2016 a steer made a break for it while being loaded by Wellard, bolting from Fremantle to North Coogee, but later died from sedation and exhaustion.
A petition to set the steer free collected 13,000 signatures, but Wellard later confirmed that the animal called Manny died, which was the result of a combination of heavy sedation and physical exertion.
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Source: Perthnow
