Australian animals brutally slaughtered during ‘Festival of Sacrifice’: Why hasn’t this been stopped?

NAUSEATING footage has emerged of the ‘Festival of Sacrifice’. Why hasn't it been stopped? WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

WARNING: Graphic content.

Nauseating footage has emerged showing Australian animals being cruelly slaughtered in the Middle East, rekindling outrage over our live export trade.

Horrified protesters gathered in Adelaide today and called for the industry to be shut down.

Protesters gather at Pt Adelaide, rallying against live animal exports @TenNewsADEL pic.twitter.com/IqGaNKExls

— Matt Bonser (@Matt_Bonser) October 23, 2014

Representatives from the animal rights group Animals Australia filmed the brutal videos in Gaza, Kuwait and Jordan during the “Festival of Sacrifice”, otherwise known as Eid al-Adha, which took place earlier this month. The annual Islamic festival involves the mass slaughter of livestock, and the distribution of meat to the poor.

In one particularly horrifying scene, a bull is tied to a post and stabbed in the neck repeatedly. Another bull’s throat is slit while it lies, restrained, in the back of a truck.

The bull lies in the back of a truck just prior to its throat being cut.

The cattle in question, which were filmed in Gaza, are wearing tags emblazoned with the letters LSS. According to Animals Australia, that means they were exported by Livestock Shipping Services, a company based in Perth.

“These animals should never have even been in a position to be subjected to this treatment,” Animals Australia Campaign Director Lyn White told Lateline last night.

“They should not have been in that market. We’ve reported that market for breaches.

“We have not seen a single charge being laid, a single prosecution brought against any export company.”

A man prepares to stab an animal in the neck.

Livestock Shipping Services reckons that criticism is too harsh. The company says it has been working with the Department of Agriculture to “identify and resolve” issues with its supply chain in Gaza for the past 11 months, and its last “direct” shipment of livestock to Gaza was in October of last year.

“Livestock Shipping Services is aware of allegations around a possible supply chain breach in Gaza during the recent Islamic religious festival,” Ahmad Ghosheh, the company’s managing director, said.

“LSS takes these allegations very seriously and does not tolerate the mistreatment of animals in any way.

“Until these issues are resolved and the supply chain can be assured, LSS will continue its voluntary suspension of exports to Gaza.”

The footage shows animals tied up on the ground.

The footage from Animals Australia also shows Merino sheep being tied up, placed in wheelbarrows and slaughtered in Kuwait and Jordan.

“This shocking abuse could have been prevented had the Department of Agriculture taken strong action against exporters who have repeatedly shown a brazen disregard for regulations in these markets,” Ms White said.

“Despite extensive evidence of recurring breaches and shocking animal welfare consequences, there has not been a single prosecution of an export company, or a single charge laid.”

Animals Australia has lodged 12 complaints relating to abuse in Gaza over the past 18 months, and nine regarding the treatment of livestock in Kuwait and Jordan, without any serious consequences for exporters.

A shot of sheep in Kuwait.

LSS says the sheep shown in the video may not have been exported under its watch, because they’re not wearing tags.

“In relation to Kuwait, LSS has conducted preliminary investigations into leakage and it cannot link sheep in the market to any LSS shipment,” the company said. “LSS strongly rejects any allegations of leakage in Jordan.”

Live exports are regulated under the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS), which we freely acknowledge sounds boring and unnecessarily complex. ESCAS requires exporters to “control all supply chain arrangements for livestock transport, management and slaughter” — in English, that means the system was designed to make Australian companies accountable for whatever happens to their livestock overseas.

Animals Australia believes the ESCAS — currently under review by the government — is ineffective.

A tag from Gaza, with the letters “LSS”.

News.com.au has approached the Department of Agriculture for comment. A spokesman for the relevant minister, Barnaby Joyce said “There is currently a review into the performance of ESCAS. The Minister does not wish to pre-empt the findings of this report.”

The Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council has also released a statement, which acknowledges the regulation of live exports is flawed.

“While ESCAS is at times imperfect, in the main it is working and we are striving to root out those elements that undermine the effectiveness of the system,” the council said.

A man carries a sheep, tied up, on his back.

But Animals Australia says the government should be acting now.

“Barnaby Joyce is overseeing a regulatory system that is failing in its core duty to protect animals. The only reason the government even knows about these breaches is because of the work of a charity,” Ms White said.

“The fact that thousands of animals are continuing to be subjected to sickening cruelty in a number of markets, and yet we are seeing no commercial consequences for responsible export companies to motivate compliance, means that we are left with little choice but to relaunch our public campaign to end live exports.”

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