GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE
Custom Search

Seeing The Worst Abuses, Australia Suspends Them to Indonesia

JAKARTA LIFE'S STYLE

Australia's Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig Tuesday suspended live cattle exports to some meatworks in Indonesia identified in a television report as abusing the animals before slaughter, but the minister will be hard-pressed to limit the suspension in the trade to just a few meatworks.

There has been widespread condemnation in Australia from legislators, animal welfare groups, labor unions and livestock producers of the brutality shown in television footage of the meatworks, which weren't named by the minister, and many calls for the entire trade to be stopped.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and welfare group Animals Australia said the television program exposed “the worst abuses ever documented in Australia's live export trade.“

Potentially at stake is an export trade in live animals for slaughter. Marketing concern Meat & Livestock Australia estimates the entire trade, which is mostly sheep and cattle, employs 13,000 people across rural and regional Australia and is valued at A$1.8 billion. Live cattle exports totaled 873,573 animals were valued at A$698.2 million last fiscal year ended June 30, 2010, according to MLA.

Indonesia is the single biggest market for live cattle, taking 520,000 beasts in 2010, or about 60% of total exports. The live cattle trade from northern ports including Darwin, Wyndham, Broome and Townsville to the main Indonesian importing centers, including Jakarta, Medan and Banda Lampung, grew to 520,000 beasts in 2010 from 296,000 in 2000, Michael Finucan, manager of livestock exports at MLA, said Monday.

A growing population, expanding economy and rising incomes are increasing hunger for red meat as diets westernize in Indonesia, which takes about 60% of Australia's live cattle exports for processing and distribution, mostly through wet markets in Java and Sumatra. RSPCA Australia Chief Scientist Bidda Jones said every slaughter facility visited in Indonesia breached international animal welfare standards.

“Through my analysis I found that the majority of animals were subjected to physical abuse, such as tail twisting, hitting, kicking, eye gouging, and even tail breaking or tendon slashing. One Brahman steer with a broken leg was tortured for 26 minutes before being killed,“ Jones said in a statement late Monday.

Rachel Siewert, the animal welfare spokeswoman for the Greens, a minority party in the Senate on which the Labor Party government relies to win passage of much of its legislation, wants to end the trade with Indonesia now and stop the entire live animal export trade for slaughter within three years.

“The minister needs to act immediately,“ she told reporters. “Australians are horrified by the pictures they saw on Four Corners (1/8)television program(3/8).“

“It's obviously quite widespread, the systematic abuse of animals, so no, we don't have any confidence that the industry will take action,“ she said.

Ludwig didn't name the Indonesian meatworks in a statement, but said he will appoint an independent reviewer to investigate the complete supply chain for live exports up to and including the point of slaughter and that he reserves the right to add further facilities to the banned list, if required. On Monday, Ludwig said he had seen the footage and was shocked by it.

(kompas)
Share

RELATED TOPIC
0 komentar
Label: , , , , ,

0 komentar:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments
 

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

RECENT COMMENT

Loading...