A Gunnedah man has been issued with a $1000 infringement in relation to breaches of the Biosecurity Act, according to NSW Police.
In late 2018 investigators from the Oxley Rural Crime Prevention Team were notified that cattle were being sold without being properly identified with electronic NLIS tags and that there were discrepancies in stock transport records.
Upon making further enquiries police said it became apparent that the owner, who is employed as a stock and station Agent, had signed a declaration that falsely declared the cattle as being transported from a property, which was different to the property that they were actually transported from. Further, the owner had failed to update the NLIS database and had falsely signed a national vendor declaration on behalf of a livestock transport company.
In early January 2019 the man was issued a $1000 infringement notice under section 25(1) Biosecurity Act for the offence of ‘Fail to Comply with Mandatory Measures’. He was issued with a warning for the remaining breaches.
The statement did not name the stock and station agent.
The NSW Police Force Rural Crime Prevention Team said that, together with its partner agencies, it regularly undertakes operations focusing on enforcement and education in relation to compliance with NLIS and other biosecurity regulations, due to the inherent risks to the cattle industry and the wider economy in the case of disease outbreak, as well as issues with loss of traceability of livestock in the case of stock theft investigations.
Anyone seeking further information about NLIS requirements should visit https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/animals-and-livestock/nlis or speak to their nearest Local Lands Services or Rural Crime Investigator.
Source: NSW Police
It would be easier to catch the thieves if the meatworks would also thoroughly check and record each animal’s ID & traceability before slaughter. We have had branded, management tagged AND rumen NLIS tagged cattle (ready for the meatworks ) stolen with nary a trace.
Is this some sort of a joke at least a million cattle are slaughtered every year that have lost their whole of life traceability. The NLIS database is a mess.