After the ABC Four Corners program recently, most horrified viewers would strongly support the RSPCA’s call for an immediate halt to the cattle trade to Indonesia. The barbaric torture of cattle slaughtered in Indonesia was beyond cruelty, it could only be described as gross brutality.
Cattle sent to Indonesia are purported to be slaughtered in the Islamic halal method. The stated objective of this method is to inflict the least pain on the animal. What we saw on Four Corners was the opposite of halal. Abattoirs in Australia can, and do, slaughter animals humanely in the correct halal method. A ban in live export would see an increase in our existing successful chilled and frozen meat trade – and the creation of more Australian jobs.
Our northern Australian cattle are not used to being amongst humans and are consequently often difficult to handle. By the time they reach Indonesian slaughterhouses they are already confused. They have been transported from their paddocks to feedlots, loaded onto ships and endured a five to 10-day trip to Indonesia. They are then roughly unloaded onto the wharves and taken to feedlots before being transported to the slaughterhouses. Once inside the slaughterhouses they are terrified!
It is time to stop wasting Australian taxpayers’ money on the installation of inherently cruel restraint boxes, the training of Indonesian slaughterhouse workers and so-called independent investigations. All these have failed because they amount to little more than useless window dressing to camouflage the reality of what actually happens to our cattle in Indonesia. The only way to prevent the appalling cruelty we have witnessed is to immediately stop the export of live cattle to Indonesia. Please help us put an end to these atrocities. Visit www.banliveexport.com and see how you can take action.
Sue Gage,
President RSPCA ACT
