Australia Suspends Live Cattle Exports to Indonesia
Australia said Wednesday that it was suspending cattle exports to Indonesia, its top market, after an outcry over video footage showing inhumane treatment of cattle there. Animal rights groups also called for an outright ban on the trade to other countries.
The minority Labor government has been under pressure to halt the 320 million Australian dollar, or $342 million, live cattle business with Indonesia after television footage showed cattle being beaten, whipped and maimed prior to slaughter in some Indonesian abattoirs. Canberra will impose a six-month initial suspension on shipments to Indonesia, and the government will also review the live export trade to all overseas markets, including the Middle East, the Australian agriculture minister, Joe Ludwig, said.
“A sustainable live cattle export industry must be built on the ability to safeguard the welfare of the animals. The trade to Indonesia will only recommence when we are certain industry is able to comply with that,” he said. Lyn White, who shot the graphic footage and is the campaign director for Animals Australia, said that the suspension should have come sooner and that the industry had been aware of problems in Indonesia for years. “There has been an extraordinary outpouring of rage that our cattle have been treated like this and have been supplied for such treatment. So this is a first step,” Ms. White said in an Australian television interview.
Considering the fact that Indonesia and Australia had two-way trade in merchandise and services worth 11.3 billion dollars in 2009, and two-way investment worth around 4.5 billion dollars in 2008, you have to hand it to Australia for taking this honorable step in favor of animal protection over profits. Australia’s cattle industry put forward a plan on Monday aimed at reducing the suffering of animals sent to Indonesia and said the sudden suspension would cause “huge dislocation” to the cattle industry in northern Australia.
What do they think is going on at these slaughter plants in third world countries? Just look at what is going on in the US, where we supposedly have laws to protect farm factory animals. Video footage, aka proof, of these conditions is important to expose these individuals and businesses of animal cruelty and torture. I too applaud Australia, unlike the US, where states such as Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota, have laws in the works to criminalize the uncovering of animal cruelty and health violations in factory farming. With activists nosing around, “people are scared to death that they might be found in a compromising position,” president of the Iowa Farm Bureau — it’s about “making producers feel more comfortable.”
yes, real humane!
In Iowa, where agriculture is a dominant force both economically and politically, such undercover investigations could soon be illegal.
Similar legislation is being considered in Florida and Minnesota, part of a broader effort by large agricultural companies to pre-emptively block the kind of investigations that have left their operations uncomfortably — and unpredictably — open to scrutiny.
What you can do:
http://animalrights.about.com/b/2011/03/23/bills-to-ban-undercover-factory-farming-videos-moving-ahead-in-iowa-and-florida.htm
Ewwww!!!! We humans at times just make me sick…
Totally! how can anyone do that?
Jamie!!!! Hold me!!!! Spookie stuff!!!