Hidden camera footage from Snowtown Abattoir shows goats, sheep killed without stunning

The Environment Minister called the videos ‘confronting’, but animal welfare authorities said their hands are tied because of a legal loophole.

Animal welfare authorities will not press charges against Snowtown Abattoir after covert footage showed goats and sheep having their throats cut without stunning and hoisted by the legs while awake.

Environment Minister Susan Close called the videos “confronting”, while the organisation that filmed them in June 2023 said it was “some of the most horrific footage we’ve ever captured”.

However, the Department of Environment and Water told The Advertiser it identified no criminal offences and could not prosecute anyone involved.

Instead, it conducted a pre-announced visit to the Augusta Highway site and offered “education” about humane slaughter.

Covert footage captured at Snowtown Abattoir shows dozens of instances where goats and sheep are killed without being stunned. Picture: Farm Transparency Project

The animals have their throats cut and are hoisted onto the processing rack without first being stunned. Picture: Farm Transparency Project

While most livestock must be stunned before killing, the Mid North abattoir has special approval for Halal slaughter, meaning animals are killed while fully conscious.

In an email chain, a Department investigator told Farm Transparency Project executive director Chris Delforce that though Halal slaughterhouse workers should stun the animal after ‘sticking’, there is no legal requirement to do so.

The publicly available footage captured dozens of instances over three days where animals are not incapacitated at all.

Snowtown Abattoir. Picture: Supplied

“The ‘lack’ of stunning, with reference to Halal produce, if approved … is not a breach of legislation,” the investigator said.

He claimed the organisation’s footage is not “in any event” admissible in court, although illegal evidence can sometimes be admitted on “desirability” grounds according to the Evidence Act.

Mr Delforce, who has been threatened with legal action from other abattoirs, said he believed if “the laws aren’t strong enough to prosecute, it is (the Minister’s) job to fix them”.

“The South Australian government should have shut this place down the second they received (the footage),” he said.

“Instead, they’ve been dismissing our repeated requests for updates over the last 17 months, assuring us that it was being taken seriously, when in fact they’ve given it the green light to continue.

“Most of the cruelty we uncover is legal and considered standard practice, but even when we find something so clearly in breach... the government sits back and does absolutely nothing.”

Ms Close said a review of the national Model Code of Practice is underway and she would recommend further clarity on “how abattoirs ensure animals are unconscious before being hoisted”.

Environment Minister Susan Close said she found the footage “confronting” and would recommend further clarity about stunning animals in the national guidelines. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

“These changes, if accepted, would be enforceable through the South Australian animal welfare regulations,” she said.

“Changes to the Animal Welfare Act currently before state parliament will provide further disincentives for people to abuse animals through significant increases in penalties.”

A Department spokesman said it obtained advice on the use of “illegally obtained footage” and that “in any potential prosecution, (it) is required to weigh up the likelihood of a successful prosecution”.

Originally published as Hidden camera footage from Snowtown Abattoir shows goats, sheep killed without stunning