Four weeks after sailing for Israel

Around 16,000 livestock remained in limbo aboard an export ship at an Australian port on Friday, having set sail for Israel exactly four weeks ago only to abandon a passage through the Red Sea and be ordered home by the Australian government.
Biosecurity rules mean the animals – roughly 14,000 sheep and 2,000 cattle – cannot disembark without being quarantined. Officials are yet to decide if they should be let off or sent back to sea for a 33-day voyage to reach Israel by going around Africa.
Officials say the livestock are in good health but some politicians and animal rights activists claim their plight amounts to cruel mistreatment and have called for Canberra to bring forward a planned ban on live sheep exports.
The situation is a consequence of strikes by Yemen’s Houthi militia on shipping in the Red Sea that has disrupted global trade.
The ship, the MV Bahijah carrying a Marshall Islands flag, abandoned its route through the Red Sea due to the threat of attack.