Live export saga enters second month as animals face another heatwave off Perth coast

The MV Bahijah’s cargo of almost 17,000 sheep and cattle is expected to be unloaded at Fremantle on Thursday . Photograph: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

A ship carrying almost 17,000 sheep and cattle is expected to be unloaded at Fremantle dock in the middle of a severe heatwave as exporters continue their fight to ship the animals to Israel.

For more than a month, the 15,000 sheep and 1,750 cattle have remained on board the Israeli-owned MV Bahijah after it aborted entering the Red Sea on its way to Israel for fear of attack by Houthi rebels.