MEDIA RELEASE
17 June 2016
Cattle slaughter footage appalsCountryMinded Community
CountryMinded is disappointed Australian cattle were sent to a non-accredited supply chain in Vietnam which resulted in cruel and unacceptable slaughter conditions.
The footage released by Animals Australia on Thursday June 16 shows Australian cattle being bludgeoned to death in a Vietnamese abattoir.
Queensland Senate candidate Sherrill Stivano is a Roma beef cattle producer and said the timing and motivation of the public release of this footage was unacceptable.
“I am absolutely appalled by any poor and cruel treatment of livestock in our industry,” she said.
“If you see cruelty, if you film cruelty, it must be reported to the relevant authorities immediately as it is its own form of cruel exploitation of animals to use their distress for political gain.”
CountryMinded has full confidence the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) accreditation scheme is the appropriate means of managing the live animal trade, ensuring the best possible levels of compliance to Australian animal welfare standards in this essential trade.
Queensland Senate candidate Pete Mailler said CountryMinded understood a very small percentage of animals were slaughtered under these unacceptable conditions.
“This footage is not indicative of the progress the industry has made in improving animal welfare and slaughter standards in live animal export destinations,” Mr Mailler said.
“Animals Australia’s behaviour is completely reckless to the rural communities that rely on the live export trade.
“Sensationalising this issue will have major flow on effects with some of our trading partners which is completely unnecessary and inappropriate,” he said.
“Disruption to this trade will also have serious consequences for the domestic beef industry.
“Cattle producers are still trying to recover from the flow on effects of the export ban five years ago, including farm foreclosures, suicides and significant animal welfare and environmental impacts from being forced to retain too much stock and the resulting oversupply of cattle to the domestic market,” Mr Mailler said.
“The cattle that have been filmed were in a non-accredited supply chain and there’s obviously been a leakage of some cattle.
“That’s an issue that has to be addressed but it’s not a universal failure of the live cattle trade or the ESCAS system.”
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Contact:
Aisling BrennanEmail Address Phone 0438 895 095