Sydney Abbatoir Closed For Cruelty

[WoofnHoof]

Question though, does free range guarantee an animal has a humane slaughter? I only buy meat from a free range butcher, but I confess to not knowing anything about the slaughter process. If it's cruel and traumatic, it kind of makes the whole free range thing pointless. It's something I'll talk to my butcher about when I'm next in.

This is true, I think possibly the free range animals are sent to the same slaughterhouses as the non free range

I was thinking of that just after I posted actually.

Although if I had to choose for the animal I've eaten to have lived a good live and then be killed inhumanely, or to be killed humanely but have been battery farmed I know which I'd choose.

Still, I shouldn't have to bloody well choose. People should do their job properly and NOT BE INHUMANE TO ANIMALS. How hard is it!? Frustrates me.

Yes free range animals go through the same abattoir, at least they did at the pork factory I was at so it's likely to be the same across other species. At present the only consumer controlled aspect of abattoir behaviour is those which are audited by the larger companies, I had a look on the McDonalds website and their tiny paragraph dedicated to animal welfare says they get their audits done by Ausmeat so it might be worth contacting them to see what their audit processes are?

[raz]

I have only read the first few posts and the people involved are in my local area. It is a private abbatoir for a local butcher for human meat.

Tha Animals Australia video in Indonesia was also taken in a private abbattoir but people here were so busy screaming about poor Bryan the Aussie bull they forgot to look in their own backyard. Pretty amazing, isnt it.

[Greytmate]

I confess you've described me to a T.

The thing is I crave meat (or is it the fat?). And chicken and fish. I really enjoy eating animal flesh.

I don't find veges and all the protein substitutes for meat anywhere near as tasty or fulfilling and they're so much more work to prepare compared to (example) chucking a steak in the pan.

Yes, I used to be a bit like that too. But it isn't a healthy way to eat and by changing the way you use meat, you can reduce the amount consumed. I don't think I could give up meat either, but animal cruelty does upset me a lot.

What makes meat so yummy are two things. The fat, and the maillard reaction. This flavour comes as a result of the cooking practice, it's not just about the ingredients. If you rapidly boiled up a piece of frozen beef and put that on your plate amongst a nice selection of freshly roasted Mediterranean vegetables in herbs and olive oil, guess which foods would taste better and be more satisfying?

It is a little harder to prepare vegetables, cereals and dairy food than it is to prepare meat, but the results are well worth it. I also think that there is a huge societal pressure to accept over-sized and unbalanced servings, where meat and potatoes dominate the plate, and the green food is a garnish. That takes some effort to overcome.

I do simple things to reduce the amount of meat I eat. For instance when I cook up a big pot of spag bol, it is only 1/4 mince, 1/4 celery, carrot, onion, garlic, and 1/2 tomato, tomato paste. That gives me a healthy proportion of meat to veges. But I put a lot of effort into browning the veges, so that I get the yummy maillard reaction going on.

I also often eat nuts as a snack, and they can sometimes be a good substitute for meat.

I am not a good cook by any means, but I made the changes and over a few weeks my body adjusted and stopped craving bad foods and started feeling normal hunger feelings. If you are interested in eating less meat, start trying recipes that combine meat and veges, and just gradually lower the amount of meat you put in it and replacing with yummy veges that you like.

Edited February 10, 2012 by Greytmate

[LoremIpsum]

Another one is www.humanechoice.com (maybe .au as well?)

www.humanechoice.com.au is the one I need. Thank you!!

It has loads of information to enable people to make an informed choice. This will help me when I choose my eggs next. The brand I normally buy is not listed which is frustrating.

Thanks from me too.

I don't know. I might be with you Anne (on giving up entirely). I love meat but it's getting harder and harder to justify it.

[erinonthefarm]

I didn't say it would stop anything- I said I would no longer support the industry.

I don't support puppyfarmers either but I don't think I can close down the industryby not supporting it. Good grief. A bit of realism please.

The thought of eating pork from a pig that has been battered to death makes me ill. I don't care what you think about my decision.

Because as soon as one video is released there is a plethora of people who suddenly convert to vegetarianism. This has been happening since before you were born and the whole time you were eating meat. I don't see how now suddenly it's really a statement of how fed up you are with animal welfare practices.

As for being a vegetarian ... what about eggs, fish and dairy. All of those industries have their own poor practices too. Vegetables ... what land did they clear and what poisons have they been spraying which has been killing the environment for years. Do your grains come from farmers who poison native wildlife?

Keep going like this until you starve to death. If people want to make a difference they need to support DPI, RSPCA and other welfare related groups in regularly checking establishments and doiung random spot checks at least 4-5 times a year. All abbatoirs and knackeries should have surveilance installed as a rule as far as I'm concerned, and not only should the staff member be charged but the entire company too for not keeping staff in check.

Why do you have an issue with someone being vegetarian? Its a perfectly logical and unhypocritical response to watching an animal be killed and thinking "I don't want to be responsible for that nor could I do it myself"

Whenever someone argues with me about why I should eat meat, I wonder why if they are so happy doing it without remorse why do they need everyone else to be doing it too.

[erinonthefarm]

I think this latest evidence has made up my mind. I am going to give up meat.

Good luck. I've tried and can't.

I feel so empty and hungry unless I eat some sort of animal flesh and I'm afraid subsitutes like tofu etc. just don't cut it.

That just the eating habits you have slipped into. If you put as much effort into buying and preparing quality vegetables and other ingredients as you do meat, you would find them satisfying. Instead you eat a big lump of meat , and then garnish it with a small amount of boiled-up frozen veges. (that's what you describe here)

If you ate a good vege dish, like a well-made vege lasagne, you wouldn't miss the meat as much. If you ate more vegetables and better vegetables, you would get used to that way of eating and wouldn't have to rely on meat so much.

I confess you've described me to a T.

The thing is I crave meat (or is it the fat?). And chicken and fish. I really enjoy eating animal flesh.

I don't find veges and all the protein substitutes for meat anywhere near as tasty or fulfilling and they're so much more work to prepare compared to (example) chucking a steak in the pan.

I don't blame you. I bloody love meat too. I really miss lamb and beef, but I've yet to find somewhere that can guarantee me that the animals have lived their lives completely on pastures and not be finished off in a feed lot.

I don't think there's anything wrong with you wanting to eat meat. But I think that anyone eating meat should be making the effort to source free range animals that have lived a semblance of a normal life.

I have access to Camel meat, and it is as close to cruelty free as you can get in my opinion. There are no feedlots involved and by eating camel you are one by one ridding Australia of a pest that causes a huge amount of damage to fragile desert ecosystems and Aboriginal sacred sites. The flavour is comparable to beef and is not a gamey meat at all, our butcher makes a camel and date sausage in Alice Springs .

[♥Bruno♥]

Camel meat is lovely, we ate a lot of that in Broome.

Nekhbet - your comment about farmers poisoning native wildlife that eat their crops? Do you have anything to back that claim up with? Sounds quite stupid to me actually. Native wildlife, (I assume you mean kangaroos?) doesn't make much of a dent at all. It is the mice plagues that do damage over East. And if you are talking about kangaroos, you are either referring to hobby farmers who grow crops on a very small scale, or I've missed the point completely, which is possible :laugh:

We have lots of kangaroos and emus on all our properties and yes they do eat the crops, but not enough to even consider wasting time or money poisoning them for.

[Inevitablue]

There has been a bit of publicity about farmers killing large numbers of wombats in the southern states

[voloclydes]

i don't know any farmers that kill large numbers of wombats...

i do know some how ever who will kill them just to keep the numbers down when they see one while out doing roos.... the holes in large nubers are bloody dangerous.

sorry but abbitoirs are not really nice places.... in the opnion of all those nicey nice dol peoples. i like meat and i know that most animals are treated correctly and the odd one is not.

there are worse things than beating that some inflict on animals there... but hell its not often nor condoned.

i am sure in your work place there are people who do the wrong thing every day of the week.

[♥Bruno♥]

Oh killing wombats is terrible! I had no idea. We don't even have wombats in WA (or koalas, or platypus!) so I guess I am oblivious to the damage they can cause.

[Kirty]

This is why I am a veggo. I have no problem with the concept of eating meat, but I do have a problem with the cruelty involved in producing our meat. Its not just the slaughter either - its transporting them on 40 degree days, crammed into trucks like sardines. If I knew someone who raised and killed their own meat quickly and humanely, I'd eat meat again. But until then I'll have to make do with my lentils! :D

[samoyedman]

This is why I am a veggo. I have no problem with the concept of eating meat, but I do have a problem with the cruelty involved in producing our meat. Its not just the slaughter either - its transporting them on 40 degree days, crammed into trucks like sardines. If I knew someone who raised and killed their own meat quickly and humanely, I'd eat meat again. But until then I'll have to make do with my lentils! :D

In the news tonight they said this particular abbatoir was audited 4 times last year and no irregularities were found. It could be a case of one rogue employee doing the wrong thing in that video.

Is there evidence animal cruelty is commonplace in Australian slaughterhouses?

[Kirty]

I don't know if that type of cruelty is common place - but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. But I believe it is cruel and very stressful for animals to be bundled into trucks, driven for hours to a slaughterhouse, then killed (probably not quickly) in front of other animals.

[samoyedman]

Fair enough. I wasn't defending the abbatoir or playing devils advocate with that question. I am genuinely curious about how widespread this sort of behaviour is in Australia.

Edited February 10, 2012 by samoyedman

[~Anne~]

In the detail I read, I took it that it was audited several times due to complaints received. Maybe it was more a case of having evidence this time.

This is why I am a veggo. I have no problem with the concept of eating meat, but I do have a problem with the cruelty involved in producing our meat. Its not just the slaughter either - its transporting them on 40 degree days, crammed into trucks like sardines. If I knew someone who raised and killed their own meat quickly and humanely, I'd eat meat again. But until then I'll have to make do with my lentils! :D

In the news tonight they said this particular abbatoir was audited 4 times last year and no irregularities were found. It could be a case of one rogue employee doing the wrong thing in that video.

Is there evidence animal cruelty is commonplace in Australian slaughterhouses?

[WoofnHoof]

There is a culture in abattoirs which does contribute, it depends on the facility we have a few up here some have a reputation for being fairly awful some are fairly good, it depends on a lot of things the attitude and education of the workers and the type of facility and equipment available are the main factors.

I'll give you a couple of examples of stories I heard (from a kill floor worker) from one of the less adequate facilities (I'll put it in spoilers for the people who don't want to know):

One instance where the guy who sticks the pigs as they come out of the CO2 stunner was fooling around not paying attention, after they are stuck they go into a hot (nearly boiling) water bath to scald the hair one pig that he didn't stick went into the water instantly woke up and thrashed around for several minutes until it finally died (there was no way to safely retrieve it from the water bath so they had to leave it there).

Another time a steer got loose and ran through the kill floor and out the door, they chased it down and stabbed it/cut it's throat out in the lot.

Obviously these might be rare they might be common I spent as little time as possible on the kill floor at the one I worked at so I don't know for sure but I do know that the culture at that particular plant was not a pleasant one for humans or animals.

Either way it's preferrable to have the light shone on these places so that everyone can learn what is acceptable and what is not, it's likely that many do know that their behaviour is unacceptable but they have gotten away without consequences for some time.

[westiemum]

Nic.B

Bashing them on the head after a shock is not the answer.

But the problem I'm told, is that not all Australian abattoirs routinely stun before slaughter. I can't remember the source because it was some months ago the (probably ABC radio but I can't be sure), but I remember hearing that only 2 of the 9 abattoirs in South Australia stun before slaughter - and if thats accurate, I'm sure SA is not the only state where 'unstunned slaughter' occurs.

As others have said, if this is correct, our hypocrisy is breathtaking... and...

"There's something rotten in the state of Denmark..."

[Inevitablue]

I wonder if Australian teenagers were properly educated on how their meat gets to their plate, how many more vegetarians would exist?

Not a sanitized version, but with as much bluntness as Jamie Oliver did with the chicks on stage.

[karly101]

I wonder if Australian teenagers were properly educated on how their meat gets to their plate, how many more vegetarians would exist?

Not a sanitized version, but with as much bluntness as Jamie Oliver did with the chicks on stage.

There was a UK series on ABC recently on that very subject - it showed a range of animal production systems with the volunteers following the animals from birth, they then took part in slaughtering and then eating the animals if they wished too. They compared the free range versus factory methods and it was very enlightening.

Kill It, Cook It, Eat It: Fast Food

The problem was also highlighting that this is our demand for cheap meat that was the cause of a lot of what I would consider poor animal welfare.

[voloclydes]

sorry to blow your image guys but.. some facts about abbies.

the workers get paid an hourly rate... quite low... then they get paid tally which is a per head rate. more animals put thru in day the more pay at the end of the week. simple really.

out there in la la land you most of you think they get well paid... to work in an abbies these days you start on training wage.. 12mo on about $12-14 per hour you i don't think get any tally. its less than the cleaners going rate, without the blood. at the end of 12mo they asses you well the boss says if your getting more money... often its no not atm as if he pays you more he earns less. after a few years you then work up to slaughterman. which is your tally bonus. the workers simply need to get thru numbers to make the job pay... they don't have time to fetch back the one that run all over the car park. they don't have time to deal with niceities.

things get missed as per the spoiler not that they don't care its that they don't have time to care, if they cared about every minor detail they would loss vaulable $.