KARACHI, Sept 25: More than 1,400 imported Australian sheep were found missing during a counting exercise conducted on the orders of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday at two farms owned by P.K. Livestock and Meat Company in Razzakabad area of Malir.

The court had ordered the counting on Monday and asked the provincial livestock and fisheries secretary and the director-general of animal husbandry to supervise the exercise.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the importer, Tariq Mehmood Butt, relating to the health status of the animals found by the provincial authorities to be diseased. The petitioner contested the official ‘claim.’

Sources told Dawn that the staff of the private firm allowed only two officials, Dr Ali Akbar Soomro and Abdullah Mewati, from the livestock department to enter the premises.

No tagging or ink was allowed to be used on the animals for counting which was done as the sheep passed through a passage.

“As many as 9,336 and 1,970 sheep were found at two PK Livestock farms; the main company premises and the other which was recently raided,” said the sources.

Earlier, an official said, about 7,667 animals had been slaughtered and disposed of on government orders when the petitioner got a stay order against culling. He said that 1,495 sheep were found missing out of the total 20,468 animals as recorded in some official documents. The number varied between 20,000 and 22,000 in other official papers.

No official of the federal quarantine department was present during the counting.

The animals were brought to Karachi on Sept 4 and were provisionally released by the federal quarantine department to its quarantine house located on the National Highway.

However, an official letter dated Sept 12 showed that 21,000 animals were being kept at the PK Livestock farm declared as a quarantine house. Two quarantine department officials were deputed on 12-hour duty on rotation basis at the farm.

The letter has no mention of the other PK farm which was raided by government officials and where five animals were found dead and many others diseased.

No counting was done by quarantine department officials who allowed a premises being used for slaughter as quarantine, which veterinary experts term a violation of quarantine laws.

Besides, the farm was not actually quarantine as the imported animals were allowed to be in close contact with other animals brought for slaughter, they said.