Like thousands of Australians across the country, we watched the ABC’s Four Corners report on Australian cattle abuse in Indonesian slaughterhouses with horror. After it’s airing, we took heart at the interim ban on live export. On 6 July 2011, we were again horrified at the Federal Minister for Agriculture Senator Joe Ludwig’s announcement of the lifting of the ban on Australia’s live export trade with Indonesia.
The Adore Animals Foundation, like many other animal organisations including Voiceless and Animals Australia, believe the treatment of these animals, and of animals in live export more broadly, is ethically indefensible. Although the Australian live export industry has claimed that progress to animal welfare improvements have been made (over two decades), the footage on Four Corners clearly shows that extreme animal abuse is still happening.
Under the government’s new ‘supply chain assurance’ arrangements with Indonesia, which must meet World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standards, the humane treatment of our cattle cannot be guaranteed. These standards fall well below those required in Australia. Also, these standards are NOT enforceable.
In a 2010 report on the trade to Indonesia by Meat And Livestock Australia and Livecorp, published on the Department of Agriculture website, the RSPCA confirmed that exported animals are ‘subjected to significant levels of pain, fear and distress, and an inhumane slaughter’.
So what can we as a community do about it?
The first thing is to register your protest in a letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, calling for a conscience vote for the bills to end live animal export. This is easy and will take one minute to do via the Animals Australia website. It’s all set-up, just fill in your details and make sure you add your name to the letter. Here is the link
The second thing is to tie a black ribbon to the front of your house, as explained by long-time animal campaigner Tracee Schifferle. We adore her simple but effective idea so check it out here.
If you would like to read more about the live export trade, we suggest you visit this Voiceless page and follow the links.
If you have any other suggestions, please leave a comment or join our Facebook discussion
