Australia suspends live cattle exports to Indonesia abattoirs
Source: Agencies |
June 1, 2011, Wednesday
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THE Australian government suspended live cattle exports yesterday to 11 Indonesian abattoirs featured in a television program showing suffering steers being whipped and taking minutes to bleed to death after their throats were cut.
Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said the suspension would be in force while an investigator reviewed the A$330 million (US$350 million) per year live cattle trade with Indonesia. Live Australian cattle account for up to 40 percent of the beef eaten in Indonesia.
Ludwig warned that more slaughterhouses could be added to the banned list.
"I will appoint an independent reviewer to investigate the complete supply chain for live exports up to and including the point of slaughter," he said in a statement.
A senior official at Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture, For Riwantoro, said that Indonesia as a predominantly Muslim nation has its own methods of slaughtering animals based on Islamic teachings.
"We have to protect consumers by ensuring they consume not only healthy and clean meat, but most important, it must be halal," Riwantoro said, referring to Islamic requirements for slaughtering livestock.
While Australian abattoirs render cattle unconscious with stun guns before killing them, most in Indonesia follow the Islamic method of cutting the throats of conscious animals.
The 11 abattoirs in Jakarta, Bogor, Bandar Lampung and Medan were selected at random in March and video recorded by Lyn White, a former police officer and campaign director of the animal welfare group Animals Australia.
"We just stopped on the side of the road and asked people where their local abattoir was - it's as simple as that," White said. She did not expect the government investigation would find conditions any more humane at the vast majority of other Indonesians abattoirs. "There's about 770 (abattoirs) in Indonesia and only five stun, so only five would have remotely acceptable standards," White said.
Animals Australia and the Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, better known as the RSPCA, want the live cattle trade banned on cruelty grounds. Both cooperated with Australian Broadcasting Corp to produce the gruesome television program screened nationally on Monday night.
Riwantoro said Indonesia could look to countries other than Australia for imports of live cattle.
Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said the suspension would be in force while an investigator reviewed the A$330 million (US$350 million) per year live cattle trade with Indonesia. Live Australian cattle account for up to 40 percent of the beef eaten in Indonesia.
Ludwig warned that more slaughterhouses could be added to the banned list.
"I will appoint an independent reviewer to investigate the complete supply chain for live exports up to and including the point of slaughter," he said in a statement.
A senior official at Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture, For Riwantoro, said that Indonesia as a predominantly Muslim nation has its own methods of slaughtering animals based on Islamic teachings.
"We have to protect consumers by ensuring they consume not only healthy and clean meat, but most important, it must be halal," Riwantoro said, referring to Islamic requirements for slaughtering livestock.
While Australian abattoirs render cattle unconscious with stun guns before killing them, most in Indonesia follow the Islamic method of cutting the throats of conscious animals.
The 11 abattoirs in Jakarta, Bogor, Bandar Lampung and Medan were selected at random in March and video recorded by Lyn White, a former police officer and campaign director of the animal welfare group Animals Australia.
"We just stopped on the side of the road and asked people where their local abattoir was - it's as simple as that," White said. She did not expect the government investigation would find conditions any more humane at the vast majority of other Indonesians abattoirs. "There's about 770 (abattoirs) in Indonesia and only five stun, so only five would have remotely acceptable standards," White said.
Animals Australia and the Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, better known as the RSPCA, want the live cattle trade banned on cruelty grounds. Both cooperated with Australian Broadcasting Corp to produce the gruesome television program screened nationally on Monday night.
Riwantoro said Indonesia could look to countries other than Australia for imports of live cattle.
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