matsaleh
From ABC News Online - Australia [SIZE=4]Government considers live export bans[/SIZE]Updated Tue May 31, 2011 5:45am AEST [URL="http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201105/r775575_6634304.jpg"] [/URL] The Federal Government is considering banning live animal exports to some countries after ABC TV broadcast disturbing footage of Australian cattle being mistreated in Indonesian abattoirs. Last night's Four Corners program featured footage of Australian cattle being beaten, whipped and kicked prior to slaughter in Indonesia. According to analysis of the footage by RSPCA chief scientist Bidda Jones, some animals show signs of possible consciousness when they are dismembered. Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig has introduced an immediate moratorium on a type of animal restraint box used in live exports and says he wants a full briefing before deciding on whether to impose export bans. The Greens and some independents have called for live exports to be banned immediately and today MP Andrew Wilkie will introduce a private member's bill on the issue into Parliament. Mr Ludwig says he was shocked by the images and is now examining ways to ban live exports to specific countries. "I have ordered an immediate investigation... by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and have asked them to provide me with all available options in response to the evidence," he said. "I have tonight directed the department to implement a moratorium on the installation of any new Mark I restraint boxes, as seen being used in the footage. This will apply to the instalment of any new boxes with Commonwealth funds across global markets. "Finally, I have requested a thorough briefing on all of the legislative and regulatory responses available to me for responding to evidence of animal mistreatment, including the banning of trade to specific facilities or destinations." The abattoirs featured on Four Corners are well-known to the Australian industry, which has installed equipment and provided training in Indonesian abattoirs to help with the handling of Australian cattle since 2000. The live export industry was shown the vision from four Indonesian abattoirs prior to an interview. LiveCorp chief executive Cameron Hall described the scenes as "graphic and disturbing" and announced the suspension of the supply of Australian cattle to three of the four abattoirs. Mr Ludwig says the industry has failed to improve its standards, despite ongoing demands. "It is clear that industry reforms to animal welfare standards have not gone far enough or been fast enough and much more needs to be done," he said. Last night Mr Wilkie told 7.30 that the Federal Government could create jobs in Australia by processing the cattle onshore rather than exporting live animals for slaughter in other countries. The ABC understands he and Senator Nick Xenophon want the live export industry wound up within three years. Last night he said he wanted live exports to Indonesia stopped immediately. "There's a systematic problem in that country," he said. "There are thousands of animals suffering tonight as we're talking. "We can't sit by and do nothing. This is a historic opportunity in this Parliament to do something decisive." Labor backbencher Kelvin Thompson says the status quo cannot continue. "When we stopped exporting animals to Egypt due to cruelty concerns in 2006, it was reported that the Egyptian Government moved straight to chilled meat imports to fill the demand," he said. "The Four Corners program leaves no doubt that this issue needs a fresh look." Indonesia is Australia's key market for live cattle exports, taking 60 per cent of all cattle, and in 2010, the trade was worth more than $300 million. Since the trade began 20 years ago, more than 6.5 million cattle have been shipped to Indonesia for slaughter. The Australian livestock export industry and the Australian Government have invested more than $4 million into improving animal welfare in Indonesia over the past 10 years.[/QUOTE][URL="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/31/3231201.htm"]Government considers live export bans - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)[/URL]
ronb
Regulating abattoirs is something the governments within a country should do - whether its the National or Provincial or the Regency governments. But I think the Australian government should mind its own business and keep out of Indonesian domestic issues.I think the Australian viewers who have been upset by what they saw on TV, would mostly feel sick if they visited and Australian abattoir.
Tiggy
Live exports have always been a subject of issue. At least it was 4corners and not ACA or something.Part of my veterinary degree required me to work in abattoirs and most were trying to deal with the horror in a humaine way. The reserach is clear that a less stressed meat animal has MUCH better flesh and resale value (cortisol and other factors). As much as it is up to the local goverments to determine regulations, it is also up to the export country to decide if it is in its best interest (money and otherwise) to supply those places. If they have another buyer - power to em. If not... well I suspect no matter the animal rights movement, money will talk.
Adam
Regulating abattoirs is something the governments within a country should do - whether its the National or Provincial or the Regency governments. But I think the Australian government should mind its own business and keep out of Indonesian domestic issues.I think the Australian viewers who have been upset by what they saw on TV, would mostly feel sick if they visited and Australian abattoir.[/QUOTE]Ron,Sorry, but I don't think this is a political or diplomatic issue at all, this is a "human" issue and as a human being everybody should be aghast at the way these animals were treated. I'm not sure if you have seen the footage but if anyone who watches isn't shocked to their core they must either be the Tinman and lack a heart or deserve the same treatment as the cattle themselves (or worse).[url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110530/cattle/]Four Corners - A Bloody Business[/url]Although the report specifically details mistreatment in the featured abatoirs, sadly this disgusting disregard for animal welfare exists right down to village level. I was shocked when I saw my first Halal killing in my wifes village. What is the point of this nonsense???? Sometimes people are their own worst enemies. It would be interesting to see or hear the views of the average Indian who happened to witness this footage. I know my wife is very, very embarrased, disgusted and angry with her own people right at the moment...
ronb
So last week I was in Sydney as public opinion built up and forced the government to act. Animal activists were being consulted and they seemed to be saying the only way to "humanely" kill an animal is to stun it first. I think this is very much a human judgement. For a sheep whose throat is about to be cut, I think this idea of first stunning it doesn't seem to make much difference. And, of course, this doesn't work for chickens.So I think the government's decision was forced by the widespread opinion of people who have not spent much time thinking of the brutal killing required to satisfy our meat eating habits - and many of them have never seen animals being killed.I recently read Tony Blair's autobiography and he described how the issue of fox-hunting caused public opinion to build up and then force his government to act. With hindsight, be felt they had been ambushed and if he could have seen it coming he would have tried to side-step it.A week later, Four Corners had a BBC storyIn this documentary the BBC follows a young man named Dean Whitney back to Yemen, where he meets the family he left behind and experiences the social upheaval gripping the country.While many young Muslims born in Britain love the country they live in, they still feel a lingering unease. Are they really British? Does the establishment truly accept them? Or are they, as Dean tells us, "simply steel city Yemenis".For Dean the only way to find out is to return to the place of his mother's birth to meet his family and to experience the brutal regime that has pushed many people in Yemen to rebel against the country's leader, President Ali Abdullah Saleh.[/quote]So programs like Four Corners have many stories that highlight differences between developed and developing countries.Getting back to Australia's ban on live cattle exports, I think it comes over as an arrogance where Australia is lecturing Indonesia on the lack of supervision in abattoirs.
matsaleh
This story continues. Many people are incensed at the treatment of livestock by some abatoirs in Indonesia... and rightly so, in my opinion.From [B]The Sydney Morning Herald[/B][SIZE=3][B]NSW politicians and farmers join rally [/B][/SIZE] June 18, 2011 - 4:34PM Debate on the exportation of live cattle to overseas markets for slaughter has continued on the streets, with up to 1000 protesters joining a public rally in Sydney. The federal government has suspended live cattle exports to Indonesia for up to six months, after cruel slaughter practices at some abattoirs were televised on the ABC's Four Corners program last month. Politicians, animal welfare advocates, beef farmers, and even a few dogs gathered in Hyde Park in Sydney's CBD on Saturday. Twins Kaye Davies and Robyn Conneely, who live in south Sydney, said they wanted a total ban on live exports to Indonesia. "I found it very disturbing. It was sickening," Ms Connelly said of the Four Programs program. "When I go to the supermarket, I can't even look at beef anymore. "The moaning of the animals while they were being tortured... that sound has gutted me." She had not eaten beef since. Ms Connelly told AAP she had contacted the Indonesian consulate to express her anger after viewing the program, but no one answered the phone. Agricultural Minister Joe Ludwig has suggested standards at abattoirs in Indonesia should be similar to those set by the World Organisation for Animal Health, which encourages stunning. Ms Davies said a total ban on the export of live animals to Indonesia for slaughter was necessary, because she doubted strict guidelines would be followed. "Here (in Australia) it's policed, you know it's done," she said. "What's to say in future, they (Indonesian abattoir workers) are going to do any better?" Speakers at the rally included long time animal rights activist and former actress Lynda Stoner, Greens MP Lee Rhiannon, and artist Luke Sullivan. Mr Sullivan said he believed the Meat and Livestock Association and Livecorp had known about abhorrent slaughter practices in abattoirs long before they were exposed, but had turned a blind eye to the cruelty. He stressed the rally was not about not consuming animals. "But I believe they are entitled to be treated well, and slaughtered in a humane way," he said. He said if stun guns were used in Indonesian abattoirs, and if there were inspectors to ensure they were used consistently, the export trade could continue. Beef producer Deborah Schmidt, who runs a small cattle farm at Oberon, in central NSW, said she was horrified when she watched the Four Corners program on May 30. "Primary production doesn't need to involve animal cruelty," she said. "The end (of an animal's life) needs to be humane and quick." Carrying banners which read Ban Live Export, End Torture and Barbarianism begins at Home, the protesters later marched from Hyde Park to Parliament House. Similar rallies have been held in other capital cities, and also in as many as 150 regional locations. 2011 [URL="http://news.smh.com.au/action/displayCopyrightNotice?sourceOrganisation=AAP"]AAP[/URL][/QUOTE][URL="http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/nsw-politicians-and-farmers-join-rally-20110618-1g8pl.html"]NSW politicians and farmers join rally[/URL]
