Media Edit: 5 Tasmanian slaughterhouses investigated

Calves killed while fully conscious, workers hitting, kicking and jumping on cows, pigs screaming and thrashing in agony and sheep electrocuted repeatedly as they convulse.

Our latest investigation shows systemic animal abuse in Tasmanian slaughterhouses and a total failure of government regulators to enforce, already pitiful standards.

Across August and September 2023, our team of investigators entered and installed hidden cameras at five Tasmanian slaughterhouses, including two of the largest on the island. These included Tasmania’s largest sheep and calf slaughterhouse, Tasmanian Quality Meats, and the biggest pig slaughterhouse on the island, Scottsdale Pork. We also investigated The Local Meat Co, Wal’s Bulk Foods and Gretna Meatworks, all multi-species abattoirs which provide killing services for private kills and local butchers.

Across all the slaughterhouses we investigated, we found repeated breaches of animal welfare regulations as well as outright cruelty and abuse, indicating an abject failure of Tasmanian regulators to enforce, already inadequate, animal welfare standards.

Formal complaints have been made to the Tasmanian government, demanding the closure of all five slaughterhouses. If immediate action is not taken, we will publicly release footage from all facilities.

In Australia, animals are slaughtered with little to no oversight. What legal requirements do exist, go un-enforced due a failure of the government and regulators to monitor what happens behind slaughterhouse walls. This secrecy is what allows slaughter industries, such as meat, dairy and eggs, to use labels such as ‘humane,’ ‘world leading’ and ‘animal welfare’ when referring to their practices, phrases which fall apart as soon as footage of these same practices is made available.

This time, we’ve uncovered the dirty secrets of an entire state, and we won’t stop until we see action taken.