PAWS

MPs must guarantee that live export cruelty will not continue

David Reynolds — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:09:52 +0000

If Federal politicians cannot give their constituents a personal guarantee that animals will not continue to be abused in the live export trade then they must support new legislation to end live export – a decision that is both in the interests of producers and animals.

In a joint press conference with Independent MP Andrew Wilkie at Parliament House this morning, Animals Australia said the latest revelations of cruelty from Egypt have left the Australian public despairing at the ALP and Coalition’s ongoing support for live export.

“With the majority of Australians outraged over Australia’s continued participation in this trade it is time for politicians who support it, to become personally accountable,” said Animals Australia Campaign Director Lyn White.

“We are calling on Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to provide their personal guarantee that exported animals will never again be subjected to terrible abuse. If they cannot do so, their course of action is obvious – they must support legislation to phase out the live trade.”

Further horrendous footage has emerged in the last 48 hours showing systemic abuse of Australian cattle in Egypt – in the same facility live exporters have claimed is ‘state-of-the-art’. The horrific footage shows fully conscious Australian cattle walking around with gaping throat cuts and again reinforces the cruel nature of un-stunned slaughter.

“Australian politicians and industry representatives have been quick to condemn the slashing of leg tendons but they cannot express horror at tendon slashing and then not also be horrified by animals having their throats slashed while conscious, yet this is the fate for the vast majority of animals exported from Australia.”

This latest evidence from Egypt confirms once again that the industry’s mantra of needing to stay in a market to improve welfare is nothing more than PR spin designed to maintain producer and government support.

“The Australian industry has had nearly 20 years of involvement in Egypt. Instead of contributing to positive animal welfare outcomes, this industry has been contributing to appalling ones by supplying animals to the horrors of fully conscious slaughter.”

“Australian farmers have been deceived. They have again been told that their animals were being treated humanely, only to discover otherwise. To make matters worse, the blind political support for live export is fuelling a false confidence in a trade that is inherently unstable and unsustainable.”

“The sky won’t fall in without live export. Most Australian farmers do not export live animals and still run profitable businesses. Those who do can be assisted to transition away from the trade – a move that will create jobs in Australia and provide producers with greater surety in the long-term.”

N.B. The existence of the new footage was brought to Animals Australia’s attention two days ago. We have been advised that it was filmed by an Egyptian veterinarian currently working at Ain Sokhna but do not know when it was taken. We immediately provided the footage to DAFF along with contact details for this vet so that Australian government officials currently on the ground in Egypt can question him.

Animal rights party would fight against cruelty in Senate

David Reynolds — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:56:02 +0000

A FLEDGLING animal rights party will field up to 12 Senate candidates in the Federal Election, as it fights against what it sees as animal brutality in Australia.

The Animal Justice Party – the brainchild of economic and ethicist Professor Steve Garlick – has been registered for two years.

Prof Garlick was galvanised into action after despairing over kangaroo culling in Canberra, where he lived at the time.

“Having witnessed that and seen the response of people to it, I decided lobbying and just wringing your hands in despair was not enough,” he said.

“The only way to get governments to change their attitudes towards animals was to deal with them on their own basis.

“The only language they knew was their votes.”

Over five years, that passion evolved into a political ambition and now a party with an estimated 1500 members.

Prof Garlick said the first goals of the AJP once in the Senate was to have the live export trade banned, then begin cracking down on any Australian abattoirs treating animals inhumanely.

Ultimately, the AJP wants to see abattoirs and livestock industry wound down, encouraging Australians to turn away from consuming meat.

“Our first task is not to clobber around the head those meat organisations that do have a strong approach to animal welfare,” he said.

“But the eventual goal – this is an industry that we ethically and morally cannot accept in the long run.

“Our vision is that we move towards a plant-based diet.”

A spokeswoman for Australia’s top agriculture group – the National Farmers’ Federation – said the AJP was less about protecting animals and more about pushing a vegetarian diet.

“The Australian public will make up their own minds about their diets and on election day, their representatives,” she said.

“In the meantime, Australian livestock farmers will get on with continuously improving animal welfare.”

There will be two AJP senate candidates for the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

A final two for Queensland are likely to be included but the party is yet to make a final decision.

The AJP’s voters, Prof Garlick expects, will come largely rom urban areas, poaching support from the Greens who he feels have done little to protect animal rights.

“Governments are prepared to wear animal brutality for the sake of their own ends,” he said.”Someone has to stand up and say that it’s not good enough.”

By Owen Jacques, NewsMail

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Ban on live exports to Egypt to stay

David Reynolds — Fri, 10 May 2013 02:07:05 +0000

LIVE cattle exports would not be reopened until Egypt committed to new export standards, even if it meant losing the important market for northern primary producers, the head of the Australian Live Export Council has said.

After footage was referred to the Department of Agriculture last week, live exports to Egypt were suspended by the industry until the Middle Eastern country meets Australian standards.

It was the third major hit for Australian exports, after the Indonesian ban last year and a brief ban on exports to Pakistan earlier this year.

The latest scandal has sparked renewed calls from animal rights activists, the Greens and Federal independent Andrew Wilkie for the entire trade to be banned.

Mr Wilkie said the latest revelations “surely must sound the death knell” for the live export industry, arguing it was not in Australia’s economic interest to continue the trade.

ALEC chief executive Alison Penfold said the council, Cattle Council of Australia and National Farmers Federation had agreed to suspend the trade to Egypt following the revelations.

She said the industry had committed to suspend the trade until Egyptian importers and abattoirs signed up to the Exporters Supply Chain Assurance System.

The footage, aired on ABC Television on Monday night, depicted the brutal stabbing and emergency slaughter of an Australian bull in an Egyptian abattoir earlier this year.

Ms Penfold said she was in Egypt in October and inspected one of the abattoirs at the centre of the latest scandal, describing the standards during her visit as equal to or better than those under the ESCAS.

However, she said the closed door system used in Egypt was clearly not working, and exporters were not given right of access to abattoirs in Egypt for inspections, as would be applicable under the tougher standards.

CCA chief executive Jed Matz said it was a difficult decision for the industry, particularly with many northern producers under pressure from drought and the lingering effects of the Indonesian ban last year.

But he said the wider benefits of Australia enforcing the higher standards in Egypt would not only benefit Australia, but all those countries exporting live cattle to Egypt.

Mr Matz said animal welfare remained the number one policy for industry, but a ban on all live exports was not a viable solution.

NFF chief executive Matt Linnegar said while some groups advocated a complete ban on the trade, a “zero tolerance policy” was not the way to go.

By Daniel Burdon, Rural Weekly

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Animal cruelty filmed in Egypt as a ‘joke’

David Reynolds — Mon, 06 May 2013 02:10:18 +0000

Six years after the live export trade to Egypt was halted due to the brutal treatment documented in Egyptian slaughterhouses – an Egyptian veterinarian has conveyed that shocking new vision of animal cruelty was filmed by workers as a ‘joke’.

The footage filmed in October 2012 – in the only two abattoirs accredited to import and slaughter Australian cattle – depicts horrific abuse of Australian cattle.

On accessing the footage in early April, Egyptian veterinarian, Dr Mahmoud Abdelwahab, contacted Animals Australia and investigators immediately travelled to Egypt to obtain the evidence from him. Whilst in Egypt, investigators obtained further footage from Ain Sokhna abattoir and interviewed Dr Abdelwahab and two slaughtermen. On returning to Australia, Senator Ludwig was notified and the Department of Agriculture was supplied with footage and eye witness testimony chronicling a horror story of routine abuse of Australian animals at both of these facilities.

Dr Abdelwahab revealed that a worker and a veterinarian had taken footage of the abuse and suffering of animals at the two abattoirs purely for their own amusement and that of others.

“The workers make these films as jokes, they make them for entertainment, not because they care, or think their actions are wrong,” said Dr Abdelwahab.

In one horrific incident an injured steer had his leg tendons slashed and eyes stabbed in an attempt to kill him after he escaped from the slaughter box – breaking his leg in the process.

In another, an animal is found walking around the abattoir with a gaping neck wound after his throat was cut.

Dr Abdelwahab, who has worked for seven years as a meat inspector in Egyptian slaughterhouses, stated that neither abattoir management nor on-site veterinarians intervene to stop the cruel treatment of animals.

“Egyptians don’t care – and our government doesn’t care about animal welfare. We only care about meat inspection. Before the animal is killed, we don’t care. So no-one orders the workers to stop these bad actions and there is no punishment. So, it continues,” said Dr Abdelwahab.

Whilst the individual incidents of abuse documented are horrific, so is the vision of the systemic cruelty inflicted on hundreds of Australian cattle each day in these facilities.

The two abattoirs where the distressing evidence was filmed have been lauded by Australia’s live export industry as being ‘state-of-the-art’, ‘first-class’, ‘polished’, and as rivalling Australian standards. Witness testimony provided to DAFF reveals that the slaughter box in Ismailia is breaking the ribs of animals, and that routinely, traumatised animals are jumping out the front of the box, and breaking their legs. The slaughter box in Ain Sokhna completely tips animals upside down for the throat cut.

“As an animal cruelty investigator, I’ve seen every method of killing conscious cattle. I have tragically reached the conclusion that tendon slashing is no more appalling, no more unacceptable, than some of the dreadful slaughter boxes endorsed by our live export industry – devices that completely traumatise and terrify cattle prior to having their throat cut,” said Animals Australia Campaign Director Lyn White.

“This latest investigation reinforces that fully conscious slaughter of cattle can never be humane. The question must be asked, if the Australian government and live export industry consider cutting the leg tendons of conscious animals to be appalling enough to stop trade, why then are they not equally appalled by the fact that exported animals routinely have their throats cut while fully conscious.”

“They cannot express horror when leg tendons are slashed and not then be horrified by animals having their throats slashed, yet this is the fate for the vast majority of animals exported from Australia.”

“What will equally disturb every Australian is how any of our countrymen could have visited these facilities – where traumatised animals are tipped upside down in metal devices – and witnessed the animals’ resultant terror before having their throat cut – only to concur that this was in any way an acceptable means of killing an animal.”

“That Australia’s live export industry is today lobbying the government to resume trade with Egypt reinforces once again that their priority is profit and that they can never be trusted to put the welfare of animals first.”

“We have an Egyptian veterinarian providing first hand testimony that Egyptians will continue to be cruel to animals without local laws and punishment in place. Knowingly supplying further animals to Egypt in light of this would be unconscionable,” said Ms White.

Animal Lib promises to use drone legally

Amanda Kenney — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 05:42:07 +0000

Animal Liberation says it will operate within the law when it uses an robotic drone aircraft to collect evidence of welfare breaches, particularly in feedlots without adequate shelter.

The $14,000 hectacopter drone was purchased by the animal rights group in NSW, Queensland and the ACT, with help from private donors.

Animal Liberation executive director Mark Pearson says an application has been made to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to use the drone.

He’s defended use of the controversial technology in the highly-sensitive area of animal welfare.

“No feedlot in Australia has been prosecuted for exposing their animals to excessive heat,” he said.

“And there are many situations where animals have been left to die from starvation and thirst and have not been euthanased.

“So this is a very necessary instrument.”

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority says there are a number of criteria that any organisation must satisfy before it’s allowed to operate an unmanned aircraft.

The authority’s Peter Gibson says that if anyone has concerns that any drone isn’t being used safely, they can report that to CASA for further investigation.

“Of course with remotely-piloted aircraft, you do get some privacy concerns,” he said.

“They’re outside safety, so they’re not something that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority can look at.

“But of course, the normal laws of the land, privacy laws and other laws, both state and federal, do apply.”

Professor Salah Sukkarieh from the University of Sydney has spent 15 years working in research and development of robotic aircraft, which he says is a wide and rapidly developing field.

Professor Sukkarieh says commercially available drones, similar to the one Animal Liberation will be using, typically have a flight time of between 15 and 30 minutes before they will need to return to base. It could fly approximately two kilometres in that time. He says there’s always a trade-off between the power required to keep the machine in the air, against the weight of a more powerful battery which in turn requires more power to remain aloft.

What the rapid improvement of robotic technology means for regulators is still being worked out, Professor Sukkarieh says.

“It’s a topic that is the subject of a lot of discussion in the US, with the use of aircraft and privacy issues.

“What you are finding is that there’s the regulations on one side, the technology forming the second part of a triangle, and the third part is the ethics behind using robotic systems.

“The technology is going much faster than the regulations can deal with. We’re only [now] starting to discuss issues about the ethics behind using robotic systems.”

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Prime Minister defends live export restrictions

Amanda Kenney — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 03:32:08 +0000

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she stands by the Government’s 2011 ban on live exports ahead of a possible clash between farmers and protesters later today. Ms Gillard is in Perth to attend a community cabinet in Thornlie tonight.

During a question and answer session on ABC local radio, she was asked by a listener why the restrictions were put in place. Ms Gillard says the Government had no choice but to place a temporary ban on live exports after footage depicting Australian animals being mistreated in Indonesia was aired. She says it was done for the benefit of the industry.

“We faced a situation where if we did nothing and images of the kind of cruelty just came back to Australia time after time, then community anxiety would have got to a stage where people would have said ban this industry, and ban it for all time,” she said. “What I chose to do instead was put in place a ban so we could move to increase animal welfare standards. “We’ve done that and what that means is we’ve put the industry on a strong and stable footing for the future.”

Ms Gillard says it has meant people are still employed in the industry rather than it disappearing forever. “We’ve got a new system with tracking and tracing of animal welfare standards so people can export knowing they’re not at risk of a sudden outpouring of community sentiment which closes their business down for all time,” she said.

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Probe to follow turkey cruelty footage shot at Inghams Enterprises

Amanda Kenney — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 04:36:41 +0000

DISTRESSING footage of poultry workers mistreating turkeys at an processing plant at Inghams Enterprises in Sydney has been turned over to police.

Sydney vet Dr Mark Simpson said the behaviour shown in the footage, taken from a camera hidden in the plant by Animal Liberation over a period of two weeks and given to the ABC, was among the worst he had seen.

He said CCTV monitoring of the slaughtering of animals should be mandatory to prevent further pain and suffering of animals.

The footage showed workers at the plant kicking birds, stomping on their heads and slamming them up against production line machinery.

Emma Hurst, from Animal Liberation, said the workers showed a complete disconnect from the suffering they were inflicting on the turkeys.

“It is as though these animals are mere objects and that they are there for their enjoyment to torture them,” Ms Hurst told the ABC.

She said acts of animal cruelty by the workers were filmed on the secret camera every day and it appeared they went out of their way to intentionally harm the birds.

The ABC showed the footage to Ingham chief executive Kevin McBain who issued a statement saying Australia’s biggest poultry producer does not tolerate mistreatment of its livestock.

He said the company condemned the animal abuse seen in the footage and would “review, retrain and reinforce our animal welfare standards throughout the organisation”.

He said the company was carrying out its own investigation to resolve “these intolerable incidents”.

The ABC said Animal Liberation had passed the footage onto police and welfare authorities.

Greens MP and animal welfare spokesperson Cate Faehrmann says it’s up to the NSW Parliament to prevent future acts of cruelty by supporting the Greens’ bill for mandatory CCTV in abattoirs.

“This footage is incredibly distressing,” Ms Faehrmann said.

“The behaviour of the abattoir workers can be described as nothing less than sadistic. It’s time the government acted to ensure that abattoir workers and operators can no longer get away with animal cruelty.”

She said mandatory CCTV in abattoirs would put an end to the appalling cruelty shown in the footage.

“The Greens have a bill ready to go that could prevent acts of cruelty like this in the future and we urge the government to support it,” she said.

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Folk World Fairbridge Festival April 25 – 27, 2013

David Reynolds — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 04:05:23 +0000

An annual family-friendly celebration of folk and world music in a traffic-free, self-contained bush land retreat with something for everyone. Over 90 acts will entertain you on this amazing and magical weekend escape from our everyday lives. So come along and enjoy a meal at the PAWS van

Fairbridge Village, South West Highway, 5 km north of Pinjarra, Western Australia just an hour’s drive from central Perth.

Roo shooter charged

Amanda Kenney — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:00:59 +0000

POLICE have charged a man as part of an investigation into animal cruelty in Upper Plenty last week.

A number of kangaroos were shot on a private road on the March 9.

A 27-year-old Upper Plenty man was charged with a range of firearms, drug and traffic offences.
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400 joeys die in pouch

Amanda Kenney — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 04:27:28 +0000

The ACT government killed more than 400 joey kangaroos in their mothers’ pouches during the 2012 round of Canberra’s annual cull.

In official documents released under freedom of information laws, the Department of Territory and Municipal Services concedes the official number of 1154 animals destroyed in the conservation cull in May and June 2012 did not include 407 ”in-pouch young” also killed.

The cull claimed 658 female and 496 male kangaroos in six nature reserves around the capital.

According to the FOI documents, the non-reporting of in-pouch joey deaths is in keeping with licensing conditions for the annual shoot, which takes place over several nights with the locations unannounced ahead of time to hamper protests.

Animal Liberation ACT spokeswoman Carolyn Drew said: ”I think they keep quiet about it because it’s a little more sensitive to hear about numbers of joeys being killed because most people empathise with baby animals.”

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