Israel condemned for cruelty to Aussie cattle

Fresh allegations have emerged of Australian cattle being brutally slaughtered in an Israeli abattoir.

Fresh allegations have emerged of Australian cattle being brutally slaughtered in an Israeli abattoir accredited and audited under Australia’s export regulations.

The Animals Australia’s investigation reveals cattle last month having their tails deliberately crushed, throats brutally sawn and being hoisted by one leg while still conscious — all in breach of international standards.

The footage, which was screened across Israel last night, was documented by hidden cameras in the Dabbah abattoir in Deir al-Asad, and also reveals the abattoir allegedly failing to meet religious slaughter requirements.

Animals Australia says it is the first time Australians can see what is occurring inside facilities overseas that are accredited to kill Australian livestock.

“Not even the presence of CCTV cameras could deter workers from breaking tails and failing to check that animals were unconscious before hoisting them to the ceiling for processing,” Animals Australia chief investigator Lyn White said.

“Kosher slaughter in Israel­ ­already involves cattle enduring the extreme stress of being tipped upside down and having their throats cut whilst fully conscious. To then have workers subjecting clearly conscious and distressed animals to such wanton cruelty is simply appalling.”

Animals Australia has lodged a complaint with the Australian Agriculture Department.

The group says an Israeli government investigation is underway and wants the use of CCTV to be mandatory in all Australian- ­approved abattoirs and for provisions to be made to allow the Agriculture Department to watch it via remote access.

“Live exporters are presenting CCTV on its own as the answer, yet clearly it’s not as CCTV was operating in this Israeli abattoir,’’ Ms White said.

She said unless the department had remote access to CCTV it would not serve as a deterrent.

Questions have been raised about the practices of both of ­Israel’s major abattoirs over the past two years. Animals Australia screened video footage of the Bakar Tnuva abattoir in October 2012 showing Australian cattle being punched, kicked and ­beaten.

Last month the animal welfare group also called for a shutdown of the live cattle trade with Vietnam, saying it had no confidence in the nation’s industry safeguards or the willingness of its government to tackle the “sledgehammering’’ of cows.

But Tony Abbott kyboshed the proposal.

The Prime Minister said the Coalition would not “rush into making the sort of mistake the ­former government made” when Labor temporarily closed down the live trade market to Indonesia.