Investigations are continuing to determine how 80 sheep died while being transported by plane to Indonesia.
The Australian Livestock Exporters Council said the deaths of the breeding sheep occurred on Saturday night after the animals, which had flown in from Sydney, were checked and deemed healthy.
The Department of Agriculture, as the regulator of live animal exports, is investigating.
“It is premature to comment on the incident or speculate on the possible cause at this time,” a department spokesman said.
The sheep, which were Dorpers, were heading to Jakarta.
According to government data, between 2019 and 2023, 11 sheep died while being exported by air, and during that period 132,499 sheep were exported by air.
The council, LiveAir, the exporter and the air cargo operator will work with the regulator as the investigation progresses.
The RSPCA has long campaigned against live animal exports by sea and says the industry is “beyond hope”.
Investigations continue into how 80 sheep died while being airlifted to Indonesia (file photo)
“We expect the exporter and the government as regulator to be open and transparent with the Australian community about what happened, what went wrong and what steps will be taken to prevent this from happening again to other Australian sheep in the future,” an RSPCA spokesperson said.
Live sheep exports by sea will be banned from May 2028 after the Senate passed legislation in July, but air exports can continue.
The Labour Party has vowed to end the seaborne trade over animal rights concerns after thousands of sheep died from heat stress en route to the Middle East.
The federal government has provided a $107 million transition package for affected farmers.
Last-minute lobbying by Western Australian farmers and exporters was not enough to block the legislation.
Farmers have warned some WA towns will die once the law comes into force and vowed to target Labor’s marginal seats.