Australia’s Live Cattle Export Industry in Turmoil

The Australian live cattle export industry is in turmoil after graphic footage of animal cruelty in Indonesian abattoirs has been released.

The footage shows cattle suffering inhumane torture before being slaughtered.

The RSPCA along with Animals Australia released the footage, saying the Live Export Industry was aware of the abuses, but did not act when they were exposed.

Indonesia has about 100 abattoirs where Australian cattle are sent for slaughter.

Glenys Oogjes, Executive Director, Animals Australia.

[Glenys Oogjes, Executive Director, Animals Australia]:

„Meat and Livestock Australia, representing the meat industries, and Live Corp, representing the live export industries, have known about the problems in Indonesia for probably 18-20 years.“

Cameron Hall, CEO of Live Corp said, quote: “The industry has been working hard to introduce stunning into Indonesian abattoirs for sometime, and we are accelerating this work so that stunning is adopted in more facilities by the end of the year.“

The Australian Minister of Agriculture says the abattoirs are currently being investigated.

[Joe Ludwig, Minister of Agriculture]:

„I’ve also then moved to suspend trade to those eleven- and forgive me if I don’t get the number right. I understand it’s eleven, but of course the department will work with the RSPCA and the animal rights groups just to identify the number, because what it will have to do is put it into an export control order. In doing that- In doing that what I will then do is make that available to you to confirm those number. So we will immediately suspend that. In addition to that what I’ve also asked is that we do what’s effectively called a supply chain assurance. In other words an examination right across the supply chain of the animal welfare outcomes. What we want to ensure is that they meet the standards and guidelines that have been set.“

Since the release of the footage, over 100 thousand Australians have registered their disgust on animal rights websites.

Last year Australia exported over 500 thousand live cattle to Indonesia in a trade worth around 300 million U.S. dollars.

NTD, Melbourne, Australia.

Foto: NTD