Australian industries suspend cattle exports to Indonesia due to slaughterhouse cruelty

[News_Editor]

Australian industries suspend cattle exports to Indonesia due to slaughterhouse cruelty

2011-05-31 04:55:45 GMT+7 (ICT)

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (BNO NEWS) -- The Australian livestock export industry on Monday said it would be suspending the supply of live cattle to three Indonesian slaughterhouses, after a documentary broadcast on national TV showed extreme animal cruelty.

The documentary was broadcast on ABC's 'Four Corners' program, showing footage of cattle being tortured, including eye gouging, tails being broken, as well as throats being slashed in a number of Indonesian slaughterhouses.

"On seeing this footage the industry immediately moved to suspend the supply of cattle to three facilities where cruel practices were identified," Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) Chairman Don Heatley said, adding that there was much more work to be done in Indonesia.

"The livestock export industry will be investigating the further facilities identified during Four Corners and will take immediate corrective action, as it did last week when shown footage of four facilities," Don Heatley stated.

Heatley said that MLA and LiveCorp had also sent an extra team of animal welfare experts to Indonesia to intensify their training programs to address poor practices identified in another facility.

Meanwhile, LiveCorp CEO Cameron Hall said the industry is committed to making further improvements in Indonesia, as all of their work in Indonesia was "directed at ensuring the type of actions depicted in this footage never occurs."

"The industry has been working hard to introduce stunning into Indonesian abattoirs for some time, and we are accelerating this work so that stunning is adopted in more facilities by the end of the year," Hall added.

In addition, Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig introduced a moratorium on a type of animal restraint box used in live exports, Australia's ABC News reported, adding that Ludwig had demanded a full briefing before deciding on whether to impose export bans.

Indonesia represents 60 percent of Australia's live cattle exports, and in 2010, trade was worth over $300 million. During the past 10 years, the country's cattle industry, along with government institutions, have invested around $4 million in improving animal treatment in the Southeast Asian country.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-05-31

[coma]

Just watched some footage of the way they do business in these Indon slaughter houses. Truly disgusting and hard to watch. If that is how they slaughter animals according to Halal then they are seriously misguided.

[Ulysses G.]

Good move Australia!

[samurai]

Indonesia represents 60 percent of Australia's live cattle exports, and in 2010, trade was worth over $300 million. During the past 10 years, the country's cattle industry, along with government institutions, have invested around $4 million in improving animal treatment in the Southeast Asian country.

Generous.

[supaprik]

another disgusting Indonesian practice.....I shake my head!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110530/cattle/

[Steely Dan]

Good on the Australians for standing up and taking a moral and humane stance. I wish the same could be said for the UK but now meat that finds it's way into UK supermarkets has been slaughtered according to Halal regulations in a sickening move essentially allowing animals to bleed to death in terror after having their throats cut. All in the name of so called multiculturalism and community relations. My own Country makes me want to vomit sometimes.

[Steely Dan]

This is absolutely disgusting, caution advised if you choose to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HErByY9OcnY&feature=player_embedded

I'm not Australian, but if I was I'd be doing all I could to stop live exports to where (relatively) 'humane' slaughter procedures are maintained.

[chooka]

Just watched some footage of the way they do business in these Indon slaughter houses. Truly disgusting and hard to watch. If that is how they slaughter animals according to Halal then they are seriously misguided.

And this is how Muslims in Australia want to slaughter livestock in Australian also

[bonobo]

I must say I am perplexed. According to Muslim doctrine, an animal must be alive to be slaughtered. (OK, that makes sense in an historical connotation. Being from a hot land, dead animals would quickly spoil and be a health hazard, so butchering and then eating carrion could be a bad idea.)

But if an animal is stunned unconscious, how is that wrong? The animals is still alive, after all.

I would be grateful if anyone knows the answer to that and can relate it.

[Steely Dan]

I must say I am perplexed. According to Muslim doctrine, an animal must be alive to be slaughtered. (OK, that makes sense in an historical connotation. Being from a hot land, dead animals would quickly spoil and be a health hazard, so butchering and then eating carrion could be a bad idea.)

But if an animal is stunned unconscious, how is that wrong? The animals is still alive, after all.

I would be grateful if anyone knows the answer to that and can relate it.

I need to dig further into this, but according to wiki the standard FDA practice of stunning the animal with a bolt gun is not considered Halal as the bolt gun may actually kill the animal, which would then be considered carrion and therefore not Halal. Kosher slaughter methods are similar to Halal from what I have read, which makes it equally unacceptable in my eyes.

[coma]

Shooting them with a LV rifle would be better than the current method and would satisfy the procedures for Halal. I am sure they have firearms in Indonesia.

[Naam]

Shooting them with a LV rifle would be better than the current method and would satisfy the procedures for Halal. I am sure they have firearms in Indonesia.

no it's not. halal slaughtering requires the heart pumping and proper halal slaughtering is done exactly the way jewish kosher slaughtering is carried out (no matter what fairy tales the resident islam haters are presenting), i.e. trachea and aesophagus of an animal is cut with one swift move. both slaughtering methods do not kill the animal instantly and do not stop the heart pumping.

what was done in Indonesia has nothing to do with slaughtering. some fàcking bastards were torturing the animals in a way that made my blood boil! it would give me quite some satisfaction to bash their brains out with a club.

[Ulysses G.]

(no matter what fairy tales the resident islam haters are presenting)

You seem to be the one "presenting fairly tales" as no one has made any comparison of Halal and Kosher on the thread - other than yourself - except to say that they are similar.

[Scott]

Let's not start throwing stones at one another quite yet. What, if any, is the difference in slaughtering methods between Halal and Kosher.

I grew up on a farm and slaughtering is a very unpleasant time of year. I hated when the throats were slit, but in all honesty, I it is rather fast and probably not excessively painful.

It's the restraining and struggling that goes on with animals that may be domestic, but are certainly not tame that is unpleasant.