It has been quite sometime since the live cattle export debate has been raging in Austrlia, with the government banning the live cattle trade to Indonesia because of the unacceptable conditions of the abattoir's where the cattle is slaughtered.
The Indonesian abattoir operator and the crew has been offered help and training by the Australian government over a long period of time. Time amounting to over 18 years. Some of the abattoirs even have Australian made equipment however according to the government officials the conditions are still not up to scratch. The whole can of worms was unearthed in the ABC produced show "Four Squares" which was documentary on the whole slaughter house condition and the live cattle export where a team of journalists follow a trail to check out the conditions of the slaughter houses and also question big beef companies about their responsibility in the whole affair. On the show there is footage of the cattle being slaughtered and the conditions are truely horrifying, the way the cattle meet thier end is terrible. On one instance a cattle is made to watch her heard gettingskilled and cut up in front of her. The look in her eyes is at of fear while she shakes and trembles in fear awaiting her turn.While in another instance there was the incident where a large bull falls and breaks his back leg but the slaughter man tries to force the bull to move to the cage, when the bull does not move, he is whipped, his tail broken, his eyes gouged and finally water poured into his nose.
A few of the companies did accept responsibilities and had promised to take measures but a few claimed ignorance and one of the CEO of a multiple billion dollar firm was quoted saying that he was not aware where each and every cattle went and what conditions they were kept in.
After all that hum drum the government finally did impose a ban on live cattle export to Indonesia until the condition of the abattoirs got better.
This has given rise to a new problem faces by the government. The cattle station now have surplus cattle which they do not know what to do with. Considering Indonesia was one of the biggest clients for the beef farmers, a few small stations have said that if nothing is done or suitable compensation is not given they will go under. With so much pressure from both sides the government has got to take a decision quite fast wether to continue the ban on export of live cattle to Indonesia while the millions of surplus cattle wait on their and their owners fate?
Please leave yours comments on the issue and figure a way where the balance is tipping.
Aditya Banerjee
