One by one they were not only stabbed, but burned, electrocuted, and paralysed. Many suffered a knife to their throat while still conscious. Explosive footage from inside an Australian slaughterhouse uncovers meat and dairy industry horror.
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Government regulation and audits are failing. Having been caught out in the past, Riverside Meats in Victoria already had the attention of authorities. Yet still it took secret footage supplied to Animals Australia to catch what audits and regulations failed to detect.
This image contains content which some may find confronting
Over 1,000 videos were sent to authorities cataloging abuses to cows, calves, goats and sheep. But one pig suffered worst of all. She was still conscious after being struck four times with a captive bolt gun. She thrashed and moaned. She was laughed at and sworn at. Then she was shot. Twice. Her ordeal lasting more than six agonising minutes.
This image contains content which some may find confronting
A slaughterhouse is a place few people will ever see. But its ‘products’ line the shelves of every supermarket. Behind every bottle of milk or packet of meat is an animal we’ll never know, and whose final moments we cannot comprehend. A slaughterhouse is a place few people will ever see. But its ‘products’ line the shelves of every supermarket. Behind every bottle of milk or packet of meat is an animal we’ll never know, and whose final moments we cannot comprehend.
The inescapable reality is that whenever animals are killed en masse, there will be fear and suffering. But tragically, this is the ‘best case scenario’. Vision supplied to Animals Australia has revealed a litany of daily horrors for the unwanted dairy calves, pigs, cows, sheep and goats sent to one of Victoria’s major slaughterhouses.
Equipment designed to reduce suffering is instead being used as a weapon of torture. Frightened animals are violently and repeatedly stabbed in the neck with prongs of an electrified stunner. This is not only painful — it’s ineffective and can leave animals still conscious and sensible to pain as their throats are cut.
Incredibly, while it remained in operation, this slaughterhouse was investigated for cruelty, twice. Which begs the question, if such routine and entrenched abuse is happening in a facility that should be under increased scrutiny, what hope is there for animals in slaughterhouses across the country, where nobody is watching…?
Mandatory and independently monitored CCTV may help curb extreme abuse. But it’s the demand for meat and dairy that’s fuelling this relentless pressure to kill and butcher animals quickly. Workers become frustrated, corners are cut and cruelty inevitably ensues. That’s partly why 1 in 3 Australians are now choosing to cut back on meat or cut it out completely — removing themselves from this perpetual cycle of cruelty and saving animals from the terror of slaughter.
