Live Export of animals for slaughter

We have to phase out the export of live animals for slaughter.

When we take on an animal, whether for companionship, for use in sport, or farming for sale as food, we owe a responsibility to that animal, to take care of its wellbeing as best we can. Our dogs and cats, we will usually keep for life, and when it is time, a responsible owner will give them an easy death.  Pet birds in an aviary are kept fed and watered, and so are our goldfish.

We tend to think of  farm animals as different, but all the same, a decent farmer will look after his stock as best as he can, even if they are raised for slaughter. No farmer hurts his stock if he can avoid it. The farmer also has his responsibility to each animal in his care.

Selling a farm animal for slaughter is accepted. It is normal. Usual. But it should not be the end of responsibility for that animal. We would never sell a pet dog for use in illegal dog fights, or our pet cat for target practice. We might sell 300 fat lambs to market, but Australian abattoirs will treat its animals with some consideration, and each animal will be stunned before killing. It is very difficult to kill an animal entirely without hurting it,  but that hurt can be minimised, and must be minimised.

When animals are sent overseas, it is often subjected to Halal slaughter. But this sort of killing is brutal - cutting the throat of an animal while conscious and letting it bleed out. Even if you are Muslim, instructions laid down 1400 years ago should not be a part of today's more enlightened views. Pray over the animal once it is meat on your plate if you like, that will make it Halal enough and even the Koran says that it is not all that important. 

In 2011, there was a row about the appalling treatment of cattle, during the shipping, and particularly,  the treatment they receive in the slaughter house once at its destination.  In a reflex action, the government of the time abruptly shut down the trade. Farmers were thrown into bankruptcy, and the animals left in limbo - I don't know what happened to the cattle which had been waiting for their transport, though I would hope it would have been not as cruel as the transport and then slaughter in some extremely poor abattoirs.

After a time, the ban was dropped. There are supposed to be much better safeguards for the animals now. 

But recently, we saw even more distressing images, this time of dead and dying sheep on a transport ship - overcrowded, not looked after, and in the searing heat of a summer in the Middle East.  It appalled all of us. 

All the same, an abrupt end to live export of either sheep or cattle is not possible without a nasty jolt to our export income, and just as important,  throwing the farmers out of business.  Instead,  there are more safeguards being put in place, more inspectors, rulings about over-crowding, and more severe penalties for non compliance.  

See full report - https://www.sbs.com.au/news/government-makes-live-sheep-export-changes-but-won-t-ban-the-trade

This might help, but it is not enough.  We have a responsibility for our animals, and this trade must be phased out. The phasing out should be over a period of at least five years, and there should be careful attention to the livelihoods of farmers, even if that means government funded abattoirs and freezing plants. I have nothing against the export of frozen or otherwise preserved meat, even to the most barbaric of countries.

Meantime, we must have the decency to see that profit is less important than humanity. We have to stop all live export of animals for slaughter. 

I have not reproduced the appalling pictures of dead and dying sheep we saw recently.  The picture opposite is how we like our sheep - looked after, cared for, whether or not their ultimate destiny is on our dinner plate.