My name is Scot Braithwaite and my life has basically revolved around live export since I was 10 years old. I was unloading cattle boats in Malaysia at the age of 13. I have worked for all the major cattle companies including as a Head Stockman in the Northern Territory. I have a degree in economics from the Queensland University and I personally have sold more than 1.5 million head of cattle into Indonesia since 1991. I am presently employed as the marketing manager for Wellard rural exports.
I am writing to you after the ABC 4 Corners Television program to say that although I abhor the treatment of the animals shown in the video, your one sided approach to the subject and the possible effect of that of a ban on live exports is too big a price to pay for a report based on the evidence of an organization that’s charter is to shut us down. I have the following points to make. I would like to have the same time as those who denigrated my life to show you the other side of our industry. To show you what is really going on. In Australia there used to be thing about “A fair Go”. You have gone with images provided by one person followed up by your investigative journalist who spent a week in Indonesia. Your report makes out that close to 100% of Australian cattle are treated as was shown on TV.
The ship that appears in the footage “for less than 30 seconds” is a vessel that cost tens of millions of dollars to build. We have had 3 separate media groups sail with this ship and it can in no uncertain terms be described as best in class. The Wellard group has another 3 vessels of the same standard with another 2 being built in China. This is a total investment of 400 million dollars to ensure that livestock exports from Australia are undertaken at the utmost levels of cow comfort and animal welfare.
The feedlot that was filmed was given a 10 second view. This feedlot is without a doubt world class. Your viewers should have at least had the opportunity to view large numbers of cattle eating and sleeping comfortably in a fantastic facility. This company has in addition moved to kill all his cattle through stunning system that he has control of. This owner has spent 20 years of his life in the industry, has built his business from nothing, has done all that is required of him from an animal welfare point of view yet your reporter makes no mention of these things.
Within a three hour drive or 15 minutes by helicopter there are another 3 world class facilities. All three feedlots including the one filmed, are at, or better than, what can be found in Australia. The cattle being fed, and the ration being fed, leads to a lot less animal health issues then a similar size operation in Australia.
One of these facilities is operated and owned by a large Australian pastoral house. They had no mention in your supposed unbiased report. The operation is run by a North Queensland man who, through His absolute dedication to excellence has built a feedlot and slaughtering system that his company, the industry and himself can be very proud of. The system is closed, all the cattle are already killed through their own abattoir. They import 20 to 25000 cattle year. They have been doing this for at least 5 years. Why should they be shut down? For what reason could anyone justify closing this operation down, especially without even bothering to look at what goes on.
The other world class feedlots that could have been investigated with a 3 hour ride in the car are owned by a large publicly listed Indonesian company. In all, they have on feed 50,000 cattle and import about 120,000 cattle a year. They have recently built an abattoir( the one that was briefly shown on the program) They built this 2 years ago as they knew that modern methods must come to Indonesia and they were willing to make the investment to make it happen.
The total investment from these 3 feedlotters alone in infrastructure and stock is over 100 million dollars. Add to that the hundreds of millions that Wellard have recently invested in ships and do you really believe that these people would leave the final product to a murderous bastard with a blunt knife? They not only have tried to ensure the welfare of the animal but have made investments to make the changes all along the chain. These people deserve to have their side of the story heard. If the system is not perfect, and it isn’t, they have the wherewithal and the incentive to make it happen in a very short time.
These 3 importers who have shown a commitment to everything good about animal production, handle 45 % of total imports.
The other major issue that was not covered was the social responsibility that all feedlotters in Indonesia practice. Their operations are in relatively isolated poor areas; the feedlots provide employment opportunity, advancement through effort, and a market for thousands of tons of feedstuffs grown for the cattle. My understanding is that 8000 people are directly employed by the feedlots and over 1000000 people are reliant on the regular income made from supplying corn silage and other feedstuffs. This is not made up, it is fact. It can be easily checked. I will bet my 1000000 farmers against the 1000000 signatures on the ban order. It is very easy to sit in your comfortable chair and criticize but is it really worth the human cost to ban something that can be fixed and fixed reasonable quickly?
That is Sumatra.
In JKT there is the largest privately owned abattoir that kills about 4 to 6000 heads a month. It is a well run facility that has no welfare issues. In addition it was working on getting a stun system in place well before the 4 corners report. No photos from here, yet this is another who has been doing the right thing and who will lose his business if the trade is banned.
The largest Importer in to Jakarta, has also built a slaughter facility in the past 12 months. It has not been commissioned yet but can be made ready within a month. They also have a private bone to pick with the program. AS was not reported in the show, abattoirs in Indonesia are operated by any number of individual ‘Wholesalers”. They control the space and the manpower kills their number for the night and then hand over to the next team. In any one night 8 to 10 separate operators can be using the same facility. In the case of the footage of the head slapping the camera panned to the cattle waiting and the tags of AA, Newcastle Waters and his company were made very prominent.
Yes, they were there but the team that handled was different to one being filmed. They protest, that their crews are well trained, no head slapping occurs and very large and sharp knives are used to ensure a bloody but quick end. I have no reason to doubt them because I have seen a lot of their cattle handled at point of slaughter and their crews are well trained with immediate results. Where can their case be heard?
I have watched literally thousands of cattle slaughtered in the boxes in Indonesia. Yes there are problems, as there are at every point of slaughter on every type of animal in the world, but 98% of the cattle I watched killed was quick and without fuss. Why is there not one shot of what happens 98% of the time? The shots of outright cruelty are totally unacceptable and the slaughter of cattle is still gruesome and confronting but is not as prevalent as portrayed in your report. Yes it does some times happen but it is the exception not the rule. And we are already taking steps to improve the system and we have the ability to ensure all animals are stunned in a very short time.
Yes there are a couple of operators who in the short term will not be able to handle the new way. But they will be dropped, no commitment to stunning, no supply. No negotiation. There are also a number of operators privately owned who were, to all intents and purposes, doing the right thing. They were asked to supply through the boxes and they have. They will be asked to only supply though a stunning FACILITY and they will. They have far too much invested in the whole industry over many years to not do as we ask.
I am asking for a fair go. You have been expertly manipulated. Hear the actual other side of the story let the Australian public see both sides. I am happy to make all the arrangements. This is too important to let sit with the images you portrayed on Monday without recourse.
Mack says
It is a bit astounding that a govt, can go ahead and ban something on the strength of one TV programme. Is this true? Maybe we could produce one TV programme to nail this climate nonsense as well though it wouldn’t have enough drama for bored old Luke.
A C Osborn says
Jennifer, I think the Gauntlet has been thrown down, will you pick it up?
Mack says
Oh that’s right ,I forgot,
The ABC IS the Australian govt.
Binny says
Firstly Scott, we are dealing with a religion here so rational arguments are a waste of time.
Secondly don’t be distracted by the assumption this is about animal welfare in Indonesia. It’s not, this is a carefully planned and well orchestrated attack on the Australian cattle industry the underlying goal is to do as much financial damage as possible.
If it was about animal welfare in Indonesian abattoirs the activists would be confronting the Indonesian government not attacking Australian farmers.
These people know you are evil for two reasons, firstly you generate a profit and every watermelon in the world knows that if you’re making a profit you are doing something wrong.
In your case you are doubly evil because you are making a profit from animal farming.
el gordo says
As I mentioned earlier, on another thread, this is joolya’s idea to create a distraction from the asylum seekers fiasco and her carbon dioxide tax.
val majkus says
Scot that’s a good post and it’s time someone in the industry got a public hearing (thanks Jen)
Mack’s comment started me thinking whether or not the Govt has the constitutional ability to simply impose a ban
I know s 51 of the Constitution says The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to:
(i) trade and commerce with other countries, and among the States;
I understand the minister hasn’t explained how he can impose the ban, just that he’ll issue export control orders which come with a range of enforcement tools.
I suppose the Govt will simply with hold (or revoke) export permits under the Export Control (Meat and Meat Products) Orders 2005 but Scot would know more about this I’m sure
The Govt (typically and sadly) tried to put the blame on the industry http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/animals/industry-was-too-slow-to-act-says-gillard-20110609-1fv3g.html
debbie says
I agree it is about time that the other side of this debate was given a hearing somewhere.
Binny is absolutely correct when she points out that:
“If it was about animal welfare in Indonesian abattoirs the activists would be confronting the Indonesian government not attacking Australian farmers.”
I cannot understand how anyone thinks it is a good plan to punish Australians because there are some bad practices in a few places in Indonesia.
Surely there are much better ways to put pressure on the companies who allow these practices to continue that don’t involve punishing Australians who are not involved or who do not support these practices?
I believe that these bans have also undermined some of the work that has already been done to prevent poor practice in Indonesia?
It appears, very unfortunately, that Australian farmers are an easy soft target for our government to make a moral standpoint.
People wanted to punish SOMEONE for what they saw on this program and it was the Australian Cattle Industry that looked the easiest and cheapest way to do it.
As Scot has clearly explained, this action will not achieve any reform in Indonesia but it will definitely create a great deal of damage in his industry.
val majkus says
congratulations Scott – talk about a voice in the wilderness:
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Too-much-at-stake-in-cattle-export-ban-pd20110613-HRV7J?OpenDocument&src=kgb
(one para)
….
but in the draft Braithwaite not only explains the meat export structure in a way that none of the CEOs in the industry have bothered to set out, but also sets framework for a solution to the problem – a problem which was created by bad decision making by CEOs, the industry body, Canberra public servants and, finally, a jittery minister. Unless addressed, our ham-fisted handling of the problem will increase poverty in Indonesia and damage relations for decades.
…
(some more)
About 45 per cent of the Australian cattle sent to Indonesia are killed at three facilities, which rank in quality with those in Australia and are owned an operated by Elders, the Consolidated Pastoral group (one of Australia’s largest privately owned cattle companies) and the Indonesian listed Japfa group. Japfa is also one of the largest chicken groups in the world. These large corporations have invested in the vicinity of $100 million in modern Indonesian abattoirs. If we immediately gave them approval to kill Australian cattle almost half the problem is solved.
Of the other abattoirs, as the Braithwaite Communication explains, many are good facilities but the Indonesians often rent out these facilities to small groups who slaughter the animals themselves and it was one of these small groups that were filmed by Four Corners. We need to require that all Australian cattle are stunned before killing and there is an audit trail of what happens to each beast.
We are now only dealing with half the exports and a number of abattoirs outside the big three players can be organised very quickly to process Australian cattle this way. It is agreed that it will take longer but we would then be dealing with a much smaller problem. Some say in two or three months the more difficult groups could come up to speed. And if this proves impossible, the vast majority of the exports are being processed correctly.
If we don’t take these easy steps, the anger in the pastoral community will see a new form of journalism as the commercial current affairs programs travel to the Northern Territory to watch young cattle shot in front of their mothers by desperate pastoralists.
Tom Stockwell, Daly Waters NT says
“For Cattle, For Country, For Kids”
We like many other North Australian cattle families and associated small businesses have devoted our lives and work to these three things.
I know Scot Braithwaite and many other people who have spent much time developing and improving the live export trade with Indonesia. I know they are honest and hard-working people.
North Australian people are being lynched by this decision. The rope is around our neck and the vigalante mob are ready to slap the horse on the rump. By the time the Minister’s enquiry or suspension is complete, we will have long stopped kicking at the end of the rope. The smell will waft across the whole nation.
We need the good common-sense Australian people to put some rational arguments to their local members and reverse this decision and concentrate on fixing the problem.
Ban Animal Cruelty – NOT LIVE EXPORT. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
HarryG says
I think the poster has answered the question himself, but just does not understand.
Yes there are problems, as there are at every point of slaughter on every type of animal in the world, but 98% of the cattle I watched killed was quick and without fuss. Why is there not one shot of what happens 98% of the time? The shots of outright cruelty are totally unacceptable and the slaughter of cattle is still gruesome and confronting but is not as prevalent as portrayed in your report. Yes it does some times happen but it is the exception not the rule.
Outright cruelty is not, nor should it be, condoned in Australia.
The MLA has to get its act right before cattle are shipped off overseas.
There is still a lot of doubt as to whether live shipments should be allowed.
Susan says
What other countries exports livestock to be slaughtered abroad knowing that there is most likely going to be a lot of ‘mistakes’?
val majkus says
what does that matter Susan; at the moment we’re looking at Australia
John Sayers says
I’m sorry but this is not about an irresponsible cattle trade, it’s about irresponsible journalism from the ABC.
val majkus says
totally agree John and Tom Stockwell
and irresponsible govt
spangled drongo says
Someone should have told the ABC [and the govt] that banning live exports just increases Australia’s GHG emissions.
jim sharp says
this article & comments here are just as one sided as the 4 corners muslim bashing report.
e.g. val majkus said: We need to require that all Australian cattle are stunned before killing and there is an audit trail of what happens to each beast. now that would be a noble ethic to follow if we had the same audit trail of kosher slaughtering here in australian meatworks & abattoirs?
i started work in the meat industry in 1947 & as far as i’m aware there’s never been any scientific research done as to whether halal & or kosher throat cutting religious slaughter viz stunning first drains the animal of its deadly residual blood which is the hub of the matter is more scientifically acceptable mode of slaughtering animals inline with 21 century health regulations
ianl8888 says
It must be quite obvious by now – Gillard will lose no votes with this blanket ban and will likely pick up some in the city electorates.
This is how the ALP governs. There is way too much evidence over my lifetime of the pattern here, State and Federal. The ALP makes decisions based on its’ perception of loss/gain of votes (yes, so do most politicians) and it does it with a deal of spiteful relish
The responsible thing to do was to sort out as quickly as possible which Indonesian abattoirs to put on a no-go list, but this wouldn’t have the same impact on manipulated city voters
Remember her leaked comment on increasing the age pension: “They don’t vote for us anyway”. Why is the livestock trade different in pattern for her ?
val majkus says
Ian I accept what you say but the meat industry is a huge earner;
what the Govt has done by announcing a two month enquiry is simply a buy time exercise rather than governing
plus it’s blaming the industry as well which is typical for this Govt; it’s not our fault – look over there
what is the MIA doing; I can’t even find a home page for it
jennifer says
Val…
its MLA, homepage is here http://www.mla.com.au/Home
val majkus says
thanks Jen; had a look, very diplomatic language – ‘working with the Govt’ on 8/6 and nothing since
and Jim that sentence you attributed to me comes from the business spectator article to which it’s linked ‘We need to require that all Australian cattle are stunned before killing and there is an audit trail of what happens to each beast.’
I personally don’t think an audit trail would be effective and it’s highly paper intensive
what’s your view Jim
Binny says
I am stunned and amazed by the seemingly total assumption that the Australian cattle industry owns and controls the Indonesian abattoir infrastructure.
And that we can simply walk into Indonesia and implement all our own procedures without so much as a nod to the Indonesian government.
Until such time as the people who are concerned about animal welfare in Indonesia abattoirs engage with the Indonesian government nothing is going to change.(To animals being killed in Indonesian abattoirs – Australian or otherwise)
I will repeat again, this is nothing to do with animal welfare in Indonesia abattoirs this is a carefully thought out and well-planned attack by Animals Australia, on the Australian cattle industry with a desire to do as much financial damage as possible.
Do you really think that political pressure applied to the government was spontaneous? They have been planning this for months.
The absolutely appalling behaviour by the media, and the government in denying the export industry the right of reply, is reprehensible.
The minister’s behaviour can only be described as incompetence on a level we have come to expect from this government.
This is the equivalent of witnessing a mugging and then abusing the crap out of the next person that walks past because somehow they didn’t stop the mugging. (Even though they weren’t on the scene when the mugging occurred)
val majkus says
Bob Katter takes aim:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2011/06/13/3242778.htm
el gordo says
I’m with you on this Binny.
John Sayers says
val, Katter blew it IMO – shouting at the Greens won’t achieve anything.
John Sayers says
Livecorp has been onto the treatment of animals in Indonesian abattoirs since January.
Here’s a mention on their website back in January.
The Independent study into animal welfare condition for cattle in Indonesia from point of arrival from Australia to slaughter was conducted by a panel led by Professor Emeritus in Veterinary Science at Melbourne University, Prof Ivan Caple, and assessed 17 Indonesian facilities to rate the effectiveness of the industry’s animal welfare programs.
Other panel members included Prof. Neville Gregory, University of London; Dr Penelope McGowan, beef cattle veterinarian and member of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA); and Dr Paul Cusack, a nutrition and feedlot expert.
http://www.livecorp.com.au/SingleArticle/11-01-27/Live_export_industry_commits_to_further_animal_welfare_improvements_in_Indonesia.aspx
Here’s the report they received from the expert panel that they commissioned to look into the affair.
http://www.livecorp.com.au/News%20Articles/110125%20Industry%20actions%20and%20outcome%20table.pdf
Surely 4 Corners should have interviewed Prof Ivan Caple as part of their report into Indonesia’s treatment of cattle!!
val majkus says
thanks you John for that link,
and the proposals by the MLA to me appear a sensible and immediate solution http://www.livecorp.com.au/SingleArticle/11-06-06/Australian_cattle_industry_provides_animal_welfare_solution.aspx
what do you think?
I’m concerned that this 2 month enquiry announced by the Govt will hold everything up for that time
Marg says
I found the video disgusting, but then learned that it had been filmed three months earlier. That made me realise it had been ‘sat on’ until the cattle mustering season so that major damage could be inflicted on the industry. These people really want to shut down the whole industry. Remember, cattle burp and these activists are also green, so Global Warming is their main agenda. Any report of such ugliness that is held for political reasons is suspect.
Thanks for the detailed and clear article about the true picture of the majority of the live export cattle industry.
John Sayers says
val – it states in the article
It appears the Government has already had an inquiry, why do they need another ?
val majkus says
to show they’re ‘doing something’?
kuhnkat says
Sadly this is the same pattern as all leftist attacks on commerce and decent human beings. Find a small issue and ballon it out of proportion with LIES. If you had limited resources, which we do, should we spend those resources on insuring that human children are not abused and are fed, given at least minimum health care, and education or destroy an industry that feeds, houses, and educates many children with its income, to prevent a few animals from being brutalized.
The choice is that simple, BUT, the propagandists twist it to make it seem that it is ONLY a question of EVIL animal marketers making money on brutalizing animals as if it is on PURPOSE!!! It would be quite easy to set up a process to deal with this issue WITHOUT shutting down ANYTHING, BUT, the LEFTARDS really do want to destroy the western economies to replace the gubmints with their One World Order fantasy.
Helen Armstrong Top End NT says
Thanks for posting Scott’s letter, Jennifer. I know Scott, he was very helpful to me many years ago when working for Heytesbury, then adjudged ‘Exporter of the Year’ when I studied part of my Nuffield Scholarship in SE Asia on the Live Cattle Trade. He is very knowledgable about all aspects of the trade and I would back his judgement and observation.
What can I say? I am a producer for Live Ex (or was), I do not condone cruelty, yet the great Temple Grandin herself has said that bleeding out is less painful than cutting off the head. I believe there is at least one study into the stress levels experienced by large animals regarding this. (I do not know where and would be obliged if someone could link it). In the absence of stun guns and bullets it is probably the single most used method of slaughtering animals in the world.
Broken legs, eye gouging and inappropriate animal handling techniques are not acceptable, even though I know accidents do happen. With more than 6000 head through the yard here twice each year we will have one or more broken legs, despite our best endevours and care. It is unreasonable to expect accidents would not happen. A large animal on a slippery concrete floor needs to go very steadily, and just one person out of place could easily cause him to baulk or trip, resulting in a broken leg. Such as a camera crew who may well be inexperienced in livestock handling. I would also make the observation that all the boxes filmed were where questioabloe practices were observed were Mark 1 boxes which are being replaced with Mark 2 boxes, the latter boxes restrain the animal much better, with the whole box tipping over with the animal inside.
Having said that, I do not want my cattle handled by people who are inexperienced or untrained. I am still happy to ship my cattle to any of the Indonesian feedlots and slaughter houses that meet OICD standards. With no money coming in at peak debt time, I do not know how we will afford the normal care we give our animals every year, such as supplementation for mineral loss, or treatments for tick and fly or fuel for bores to pump water, without which our cattle will suffer. And you know what? I am the one who is going to have to go out every day and see that suffering.
A six month ban is in effect a 12 month ban as in six months we will be into the wet season, during which no cattle can be moved. For heavens sake, please get this trade going again to OICD level Indonesian slaughter houses, so I can earn some money to care for my cattle.
John Sayers says
I see it as cattlemen who produce beef exporting their legitimate product to provide a source of protein, in this case to Indonesia. The British Empire was based on the fact that they took their protein with them – be it sheep or cattle.
We have been offering this to Indonesia for years. Suddenly the Greens and the environmental groups have latched onto it even though the report was available to them months ago.
just look at the polls for further motive.
jim sharp says
John Sayers said:
The British Empire was based on the fact that they took their protein with them – be it sheep or cattle.
What’s a load of boozh-wah codswallop as well as being the white mans burden stuff!
They took sheep or cattle & wheat etc etc to be returned back to albion further up the protein chain as energy to fuel there industrial workers slaving 14 18 hour days in there gawd awful satanic mills i.e it was a purely “for profit venture” as is today’s Indonesian one.
The real argument is religion verses science coz the taste & tenderness of the meat does not tell us who grew the bullocks or whether they they were halal or kosher slaughtered [done properly without buring up too much of the animals blood sugars]
Nor does the simple agitprop of the cattle industry alone tell us in itself what the social conditions under which they took place were i.e the possible brutal lash of the produces & or the anxious eyes of the processing capitalists &
conception to consumption /meat industry workers forge /manoeuvre & orchestrate / the product they process /only the brick ignorant /declines to ask ‘em / who do the hard yakka
Johnathan Wilkes says
js
Why, thank you latter day Karl Marx, now we know why the British navy scattered pigs, goats etc. through out the remote islands, to the eternal gratitude of the present day inhabitants.
Explains it all, the nasty, imperialist, capitalist pigs they were!
Douglas says
A vote for Labor is a vote for the Extreme Greens.
A vote for the Extreme Greens is a vote for Labor and the Green Coalition.
A vote for the Liberals is a vote for a significant number of LINOs. Liberals in name only. For example Catherine Cusak in NSW government. I do not recall hearing any objections to the ban from her.
Animal Liberation is a very strong faction of the Greens
In NSW the smart voters have worked out the only way to dilute watermelon juice is to vote for the Shooters and Fishers Party
spangled drongo says
Is this the showdown arriving?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/16/3245609.htm?section=justin
O. Puhleez says
Scot Braithwaite says:
“As was not reported in the [‘Four Corners’] show, abattoirs in Indonesia are operated by any number of individual ‘Wholesalers’. They control the space and the manpower kills their number for the night and then hand over to the next team. In any one night 8 to 10 separate operators can be using the same facility. In the case of the footage of the head slapping the camera panned to the cattle waiting and the tags of AA, Newcastle Waters and his company were made very prominent.
“Yes, they were there but the team that handled was different to one being filmed. They protest, that their crews are well trained, no head slapping occurs and very large and sharp knives are used to ensure a bloody but quick end. I have no reason to doubt them because I have seen a lot of their cattle handled at point of slaughter and their crews are well trained with immediate results….
“I have watched literally thousands of cattle slaughtered in the boxes in Indonesia. Yes there are problems, as there are at every point of slaughter on every type of animal in the world, but 98% of the cattle I watched killed was quick and without fuss….”
Braithwaite claims that 98% of the kills he has seen were quite the opposite of the barbarous process shown on the ‘Four Corners’ program. Yet so far the message from the live exporters has been that the overwhelming majority of Indonesian ABBATOIRS do not practice stunning. But Braithwaite says that it is a matter of which OPERATOR is using the abbatoir facilities that will decide how slaughter takes place, and from his article one would guess that for each abbatoir there are around 10 operators.
The live exporters must know this, and must also know that in practice, that fact makes the Indonesian slaughter system about ten times harder to reform than they previously thought.
Ironically, most of the bile from the supporters of the live export trade is directed at (1) the ABC for its ‘biased’ treatment of the issue (ie shoot the messenger), (2) animal rights activists like Animals Australia and GetUp!(3) the Gillard government for banning the trade (even if only temporarily).
The last people they want to blame are themselves, for living in a fool’s paradise; for believing that the facts and realities of Indonesian animal slaughter would never come to light.
If as Braithwaite claims, it is only a tiny minority of cattle that get slaughtered in the manner shown on ‘Four Corners’, then that can be easily addressed. All the Indonesian government has to do is criminalise such practices, and duly send a few of this ‘minority’ of rogues to do a serious length of time in jail. The rest would soon get the message.
But something tells me that won’t happen, and I think I can guess why.
Jenny says
Interesting this rubbishing of so called animal activists. Are we just busy bodies as Jennifer would have us? Well, let me cite the credentials of this animal activist busy body. First I have been involved in farming (dairying and beef cattle) for over fifty years, and indeed our family have been farming this country since the 1830s. Secondly I have an honours degree in the Indonesian language and Asian Civilisation and a post graduate diploma in Arabic and Islamic Studies, the latter from studying at the University of Lahore, Pakistan.
In passing I note that for the entire year I lived in Pakistan I was in a hostel that lacked hot water and refrigeration. It made no one iota of difference whether the meat on sale in the city of Lahore was freshly killed or was a box of chilled meat. Either way in the heat there is was rotten within a few hours unless cooked. So lack of refrigeration in the home as a reason for live exports is a furphy.
I became active in regard to animal welfare when as a farmer I noted animals were left to die in a Council run abattoir without feed over long weekends. On seeing dying animals I intervened and fed hundreds of cattle and then started an action group to ensure proper procedures were put in place. I then moved on to oppose the curfew system in NSW saleyards which often saw cattle two days or more without water in summer. I got the curfews abolished in our city saleyards and eventually all of NSW followed .I got water troughs installed in cattle yards.
On realising that the issues in my home town were not unique and that proper care of animals, be it in research labs, in abattoirs, in pet shops, in circuses, in factory farms and in almost every sphere of animals use left a lot to be desired there was obvious need for change and greater regulation.
So I founded a branch of Animal Liberation and began working toward that goal. I worked with Government agencies to redraft prevention of cruelty to animals legislation in my State and I sate on various advisory committees. I made input into the National Codes of Practice for the transportation of farm animals, for care in abattoirs and saleyards and so on.
By the way, I was never a Green. I was traditionally a National Party voter.
I was a founding committee member of ANZFAS, now known as Animals Australia, advising on welfare of animals in primary industries. My employment at the time was as a training officer of the Department of Primary Industry, conducting management training of our meat inspectors and vets in our export meatworks.
So don’t make the mistake of thinking animal activists don’t know what they are talking about. I am by no means unique in the movement.
Now to come to live exports and the current furore. Some three years ago I sent the MLA a cd showing similar mishandling of cattle in Eypgtian abattoirs, filmed by Animals Australia and which ultimately led to the suspension of that trade for over year by the Howard Government. Incidentallly on resumption, on the very first shipment some 290 cattle died on the ship. One would have thought then, given the Egyptian ban, that the MLA and LIvecorp would have made sure there were no issues in Indonesia, the country where most of our live cattle were being exported to. It beggars belief that they would be found so wanting in the most important market of all to the industry.
This trade is always going to be a running sore on the face of this country. It will never be made humane. Some 500 000 animals have died horrific deaths on the ships alone. 100 000 were burnt to death at sea. Hundreds of cattle have been crushed on rolling ships in rough seas, or maimed. It does not take much imagination to know the misery for maimed animals to be somehow gotten out of the hold of a ship. Perhaps readers would like to read the experience of the stockman who reported on the Kalymnian Espress to see what happens to cattle caught in rough seas on a moving ship. Thousands more cattle have died of heat stress. Sheep die from failure to thrive on the long voyages and thousands have died of heat stress on arrrival. Go the Animals Australia website and call up the Death Files and you will see the litany of disasters that have occurred, each causing untold suffering to the animals caught up in them. These disasters continue and we know that every year some 30 000 animals will die on the ships before they even get to where they are going. Then there is the fate they suffer on arrival. And we can see what that might be for some. Not a single animal should suffer that way. Suggesting they are in the minority is not good enough. One, is one too many.
We ship hundreds of thousands of sheep to the ME, many for sacrifice in the religious festivals. In Pakistan at Eid, it was expected that boys as young as 9 sacrifice a sheep, cutting its throat while fully conscious. Why should we be sending out sheep to be butchered in the back yards of homes on the other side of the world in the name of religion?
25 years ago a Senate Inquiry found the trade was inimical to animal welfare and should be phased out. But no, the industry has ploughed on regardless, in the full knowledge of the suffering of large numbers of animals, at sea or at arrival, and worked to ever more expand the trade.
All the protestations in the world by the industry will never convince me that this trade can be made humane. It is quite right that we have no control over what happens in other countries. So if we know that our animals are going to be mistreated or suffer and die on route, then we have no right to be loading them on to ships in the first place. Right now we know that some
30 000 animals will be dead on the ships over the next 12 months. Frankly I think that continuing the trade in the face of that and knowing the ill treatment meted out to our animals in many of the importing countires, the industry indicts itself. It has only itself to blame that the whole thing has blown up in its face, and big time.
What the industry is confronting now is grass roots opposition to the live trade. It has gone way beyond the bounds of the animal welfare groups. The issue is now on the national agenda and consciousness of the nation as a whole. To try and dismiss those opposing the trade as just busy body animal acitivists is most unwise.
I myself, as a cattle farmer, will continue to fight against this trade. We have had 25 years since the Georges report recommended it be phased out to develop alternatives. It is time we did just that.
Lyn and Des says
Well written Jenny and very truthful.