Help spare animals from suffering in slaughterhouses.

At just a fraction of her natural lifespan – still a baby – she is marched down the chute to the ‘kill floor’. There is nowhere she can turn, run, or hide. She has been taken from her mother, terrified and confused. What awaits her when it is ‘her turn’ is something most people don‘t ever want to see, but she will be forced to endure.

In a slaughterhouse, where efficiency is key for industry profits, there is no such thing as ‘humane‘.

The horrific treatment of animals has been exposed at five slaughterhouses in Tasmania in 2023, through investigations conducted by Farm Transparency Project.

Footage reveals sheep, pigs, deer, goats, cows, and young calves enduring slaughter practices that most caring people, across Australia and the globe, would consider unconscionable. Many animals are killed while fully conscious, including ‘bobby calves’ discarded from the dairy industry at just a few days old.

In December 2023, ABC News covered the investigation.

Understandably, slaughterhouse footage is distressing to watch – but a light must be shone on the reality for the animals who are forced to endure it. 

Incredibly, two of the five slaughterhouses exposed this year had previously been reported for animal welfare breaches, but these facilities were allowed to continue operating. If such routine and entrenched abuse is happening in facilities that should be under increased scrutiny, it begs the question, what’s happening to animals in slaughterhouses across the country where nobody is watching? 

This latest investigation makes Tasmania the fourth Australian state this year to have slaughterhouse cruelty exposed. Earlier in 2023, Farm Transparency Project investigators captured the horrifying standard practice of ‘stunning’ pigs by lowering cages of them into gas chambers in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. 

Our current food systems fail animals miserably, although the enormous advertising budgets of the meat, dairy and egg industries work hard to convince caring consumers otherwise. Time and time again, investigations the world over have shown that appalling treatment of animals is inevitable when they are seen only as ‘things’ to be used and profited from.

The desire to live is shared by all animals, human and non-human. Farmed animals are no different, yet they are bred into industries for the sole ‘purpose’ of being killed at just a fraction of their natural lifespans. Even the ‘best case’ scenario will subject these sensitive animals to stress during transport to the slaughterhouse, and for most, terror and pain as they are being killed.

Footage of animal slaughter is difficult to obtain and difficult to watch. The palpable fear and suffering inside slaughterhouses is heart-wrenching, and for most of us, it’s eye-opening; the average person has little exposure to how animals are killed for food in Australia. 

Why are animals being treated this way? This cruelty towards the animals is not about individual slaughterhouse workers; it is a systemic problem. Industries that use animals are trying to keep up with consumer demand for animal products, developing ways to kill more animals at faster rates.

Due to the relentless pace of ‘processing’ and slaughtering animals, many workers are forced to distance themselves mentally from the animals in front of them. As a coping mechanism, they have to become desensitised to the task of killing, which is why we see such disregard for individual animals.

The most powerful way to end this cycle of suffering is to choose not to support it. Each animal trapped in our food system is a thinking, feeling individual with a unique personality – and every conscious, kind choice can change their fate.

Every time you choose a plant-based meal over an animal-based one, you are helping to spare animals from the terror of a slaughterhouse.

When we break down what we think is ‘normal’, and realise we inherited many of our beliefs from those before us and around us, we can start to think a little differently about the products we reach for at the supermarket and the dishes we cook. After all, it was generations long before ours that deemed some animals ‘friends’ and others, ‘food’ – so the power lies with us to change that, and make choices that align with our values and our hearts.  

Choosing to eat kindly is the key to forging a kinder future for all; one where animals are seen as someone, instead of something. Declare your support for a kinder world by taking this pledge.