Ostrich Production Namibia replaced

Ostrich Production Namibia (OPN) has been replaced by a new company called Karas Abattoir and Tannery or KAT. Managing director of KAT, Frikkie Mouton said that slaughtering still includes ostriches but that the business focus had changed from specifically slaughtering ostriches to sheep and springbok, all of which Mouton says are readily available. The ostrich industry has been going through a period of turmoil in the past five years and revenues have dwindled. Many of the ostrich farms in the Karas region are now just empty sheds and in 2003 the government admitted that the local ostrich industry was no longer viable. Since there were no ostriches to slaughter, a decision was taken to convert the ostrich abattoir into a small-stock abattoir and tannery, with the capacity to slaughter ostriches when there is a demand. By the end of May 2004, the newly converted OPN tannery was processing about 1,200 skins per day and looking forward to increasing the volume to 3,500 skins per day. It has the capacity of to process 6,000 skins per day.