Yangan’s Carey Bros Abattoir investigated after kill floor footage released
Vegan protesters broke into a regional Queensland, family-owned abattoir and hid cameras above the kill floor. The footage they captured has led to an investigation by state regulators. WARNING: Graphic content.
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Work practices at Yangan’s Carey Bros Abattoir have again come under fire after vegan protesters released highly-distressing footage shot inside the family-owned slaughterhouse.
The footage was captured by the Farm Transparency Project from August to September last year and shows sheep and pigs being kicked, punched and crushed as they are forced onto the kill floor.
Staff can be seen struggling to contain the animals as they twist and turn, with several animals escaping and running loose through the complex.
At one point a young goat stands in a pool of blood before it is recaptured, while later a worker is shown stabbing and decapitating a conscious sheep.
The protesters made several stops in the Southern Downs on Tuesday, at the Yangan abattoir, a butcher shop and outside the Warwick office of Nationals Leader David Littleproud.
While Carey Bros declined to comment on the footage or the behaviour of its staff, a spokesman from the Queensland Department of Primary Industry said the regulator was investigating the animal cruelty allegations.
Chris Delforce from the FTP led the team that captured the footage and said the same allegations could be made of abattoirs across Australia.
“It is just a pretty horrible industry across the board, which is what we have come to expect,” he said.
“This is so out of line with how the industry presents itself, and with what the Australian public thinks is going on.”
FTP is investigating 30 abattoirs across Australia, including seven in the Darling Downs.
“Part of announcing what we are doing was to put the industry on notice, they should have been expecting us so you’d think they would be on their best behaviour, but we have seen so many breaches,” Mr Delforce said.
“It is a fundamentally flawed system that will always involve cruelty.
“They are all just cowboys, they are doing what they want, and there is not enough regulation, which is how we got to this situation with over the top cruelty.”
The same group of vegan protesters snuck into the Yangan abattoir in 2019, where they chained themselves to the machinery on the kill floor in a bid to delay work.
They were also successful in freeing three young sheep that were rehomed at a rescue farm.
Since 2019 the abattoir has received a $250,000 federal g
overnment grant to purchase new equipment for processing animal hides.
“Revisiting Carey Bros was not random,” Mr Delforce said.
“We wanted to see if anything had improved since they received that government grant, but it is worse.”
Mr Littleproud was asked if Carey Bros had a case to answer or if the regulator should push for charges.
“Any breach of animal welfare standards is serious and should be investigated by the relevant authorities,” he said.
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Originally published as Yangan’s Carey Bros Abattoir investigated after kill floor footage released
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