Live animal export

This article is available as a printable pamphlet - print double sided and cut down the middle. You can hand this out at rallies, meetings, etc.

9 June 2011

Below is the position of the Vegan Society NSW on the current issue of live animal exports to Indonesia.



Reaction to Four Corners program shows widespread compassion towards animals

The horrific treatment of animals shown on Four Corners recently has shocked many people. The compassion they feel for the animals clearly shows that people include animals in their ethical system. Most people understand that animals feel emotions such as pleasure, pain and fear. Anyone who has the good fortune to live with a companion animal knows that animals have fun playing games, they get pleasure from touch and they enjoy the company of human and non-human animals. On the program, farmers expressed positive feelings for the animals they raise for slaughter, some even praising the animals for their intelligence and other traits. Gone are the days when animals were assumed to be unfeeling machines. Both common sense and science demonstrate the rich emotional lives of animals. 		 

Ban on export is not enough

In the case of the mistreatment of animals in Indonesian slaughterhouses, the initial reaction was to call for a ban on the export of live animals to Indonesia and to slaughter the animals in Australia instead. But if you think about it, this reaction does not go nearly far enough.

Compassion for all animals not just "Australian" animals

Banning live exports to Indonesia ignores the horrible mistreatment in Indonesia of animals that do not come from Australia. Indonesia can get animals from many countries and also locally and so a ban by Australia will not have any net effect on animal cruelty, merely replacing one animal being slaughtered with another. Animals do not have a nationality and any animal cruelty is unethical no matter who does it or where it is done. The call to only save "Australian" animals is nationalistic and the campaign needs to be much broader to have any significant effect. It may make us feel good to save Australian-bred animals, but if our intention is to stop cruelty to animals then we must include all animals in our circle of compassion.

Other countries are not much better

Banning live exports to Indonesia does not help the huge number of animals exported to other countries, where standards are little better. As shown by Four Corners, we can not rely on the industry or government to ensure "humane" treatment, since they both have monetary vested interests. Since we have no independent way of checking, we can not just assume the animals will be treated well. If there is any doubt then all live exports should be banned. We must err on the side of the powerless.

Cruelty not just at slaughterhouses, also in transport and at feed lots

Behind the call for a ban is the assumption that exports can resume once "humane" slaughter becomes standard in Indonesia. So in practice such a ban will be temporary and animals will again be sent overseas. This ignores the well documented mistreatment of animals during the long transport on crowded ships where deaths and injuries are significant. It also ignores the crowding and force feeding at the feed lots. The industry gave the spin to Four Corners that feed lots in Indonesia were like tropical resorts. This is far from the truth. In these feed lots, cattle are fattened as quickly as possible, with no regard to their health or welfare, except where it may impact on the operators' profits. Due to unavoidable long transport times, the terrible conditions on the transport ships and the treatment in Indonesia before slaughter, the ban must be permanent.

We don't know if Australian slaughterhouses are any better

The scenes we saw on Four Corners were possible only because slaughterhouses in Indonesia do not ban cameras. In contrast, in "open" Australia, slaughterhouses do not allow outsiders to view what happens inside. If you suspect this is not true, look them up under "abattoirs" in the Yellow Pages and give them a call asking to look over their facilities. So we really have no way of knowing how animals are treated in Australian slaughterhouses. There is definitely evidence of cruelty, just check Youtube for some footage equally as horrific as that shown on Four Corners. So for consistency we must also call for a ban on slaughter in Australia, until we can see what is happening.

Cruelty to animals is widespread

But the slaughterhouse is just the cruel ending to an often miserable life - a life, depending on your species, full of mulesing, castration, de-beaking, grinding up of living chicks, overcrowding, torturous confinement, separation of mother and babies, living entire lives never seeing the sun, standing in fields of excrement, being caked in excrement, unable to stand and broken bones caused by overweight due to breeding, scalding alive, forced impregnation, disposal of "waste" male calves from the dairy industry, tail docking, dehorning. Basically, being treated as a senseless object. Again, Youtube will show you the footage.

Compassion means we must stop using animals

So, if you are really concerned about the welfare of animals, then just stop eating or using them and call for others to do the same. You do not need animal products for health. In fact a vegan diet is one of the healthiest of all. According to the American Dietetic Association, a vegan diet can help prevent and treat chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. It is suitable for all stages of the life-cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and for athletes.

Go vegan

If it is unnecessary to raise and kill animals for food and if we believe in avoiding all oppression whenever possible, then it makes no sense to continue with animal production and consumption at all. Go vegan.

Vegan Society NSW committee