MILLIONS OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS FROM AUSTRALIA

HAVE BEEN EXPORTED LIVE TO THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH EAST ASIA

BAN LIVE EXPORT AS A SOLUTION FOR GROWING  ANIMAL CRUELTY

The heartbreaking story about animal suffering around the world seems to be never ending. No matter how much the animal rights activists and volunteers are active to stop the animal abuse and animal cruelty, the sadistic moments against other living creatures could be seen everywhere. The range of this cruelty and psychopathy is so wide that it covers all animals, wild and domestic. When this trend is encouraged by some government regulations or it is not prohibited by them, we call it the absence of civilization values. The darkness of humanity.

Behind the dramatic reports from the different regions about the extinction of very rare and precious wild animals, there is also a bloody tale about the farm animals which are daily tortured and slaughtered before they are killed and turned into your delicious burger.That is the typical example of human beings as the worst  predators ever and their cruel relation towards “meat”.

I am very much sure that almost everyone heard about live export but not everyone is informed what this term exactly means. First of all, live export is some kind of commercial activity which means transport of live farm animals across national borders. The transport requires the special ships as well as the procedure of carrying the animals but in spite of the “highest technological efforts” the total picture of live export industry is very disturbing and shameful.

Australia is one of the leading live export industries  and the main targeting lands of export are definitely those on the Middle East region as well as those in southeastern Asia. Every year, the millions of domestic animals ( 1 million of live  cattle and 2 million of live sheep ) are sent abroad on the rusty and uncomfortable ships  without being equipped or prepared for a long, hard trip to some of final destinations. If they do not die during the night mare transport, they will be anyway hurt or injured before they are delivered to the final customer. The countries which import “live meat” aren’t familiar so much with the anti-animal cruelty policy so their local workers can abuse the animals, not only based on sadistic reasons but also based on the lack of training to kill them at least in not so cruel way.

Australian associations for pursuing the idea of ban live export have done a lot of investigations about the last destiny of exported live animals. The reports were so shocking that the public in Australia stood up immediately against that savagery. The video clips and secret films what have been made in the importing countries have shown us the level of  abuse, savagery and cruelty which is worse than the worst Hollywood horror scenario. The thousands of domestic animals sent out to Turkey,  Jordan, Kuwait,Qatar, Bahrain, Israel,Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines ,Japan, Vietnam, Russia and Mauritius  and they have experienced the butchery before butchering. The people who usually work in those sectors are exported labor force by themselves. They come from the poor countries and their empathy and compassion for animals doesn’t exist because they haven’t been familiar with that culture within their own local culture. Beside that, the methods used for killing of animals in some of  the mentioned lands are back warded and not suitable for one human treatment in 21st century. The whole process of  the animals slaughtering   remind us on the cheap scary movie  scenario.

The Australian government is under big pressure regarding this issue, especially after the documented abuse by Animal Australia investigators. There is one alternative to this terrible practice and it is already offered to the business world. Instead of live export and painful end of poor animals, Australia can export   chilled and frozen boxed meat. Some economical experts advice that in 2014-15, boxed meat was worth  even 8 times  more to the Australian economy than controversial live export and Ban Live Export Web Site comes with further explanation:“A 2014 Australian government-commissioned report also dispelled the myth  that importing countries won’t shift from live export to boxed meat. History has shown that when importing countries cannot get live animals from Australia (either because of drought impacting numbers available or suspensions due to cruelty or trade disputes) those countries simply increase their intake of chilled and frozen meat.A series of independent economic reports over recent years have also set out that a well-planned transition from live export to boxed meat could create jobs, benefit the Australian economy and provide stability for Australian producers.”

People usually accuse halal slaughter of animals when it comes to the animal cruelty in the Middle East region. The situation is opposite. The countries like Egypt, Oman, Kuwait or Qatar do not follow the halal procedure because of their ignorance and that is the reason for the animal abuse and those barbaric pictures which are coming to us from them.Many Muslims worldwide will agree that those abuse has nothing to do with halal killing according to Islam.  Halal is a set of procedures regulated by  Noble Qur’an and special Islamic law of Dhabihah, the recommended method of ritual slaughter of all halal animals ( cows, goats, sheep or chicken). The rules are specific and recognizable as the part of the Islamic practice:1. Animals shouldn’t be killed in the presence of other animals ( poultry farm or slaughter house ) 2.Animals must not be bounded 3.The slaughter man makes dedication of animals to Allah (swt)  “In the name of Allah-Bismillah) 4. The animals must face Mecca, The Qiblah. 5. The animals should be killed with the single  cutting the large arteries in the neck and 6. The animals must not suffer prior to slaughter.

Now, compare these  Islamic halal rules with the situation on the ground. The imported butchers in Qatar or some poor workers  in Egypt  have no religious knowledge and the government control over there is not rigid to stop animal abuse on the first step. For example, Jordan is transferring itself from live import to the frozen meat box .The only hope is that after the ban is made by Australia, all other importers will do the same. The hell in South East Asia is not possible to reflect. The latest upsetting images come from Vietnam according to Animals Australia investigation and it is considering the local cattle killing  :”A frightened bull is marched onto a blood soaked kill floor. He is restrained tightly by a rope around his neck. A slaughterman stands before him wielding a sledgehammer. What happens next can go one of two ways: the animals who suffer critical brain damage after the first strike are ‘lucky’. The ‘unlucky’ remain completely aware of their pain, and imminent threat to their lives. They know what’s coming. The terrified bull pulls away and winces as the sledgehammer is raised above his head for the second time. And a third. Unable to escape, he bellows loudly in protest with every strike. He begins to shake violently as he turns his head and shuts his eyes in anticipation of the fourth blow. And the fifth…This shocking ‘slaughter method’ is how cattle are traditionally killed for meat in Vietnam. So when Australia’s live export industry turned to Vietnam as a major customer, there was always a high risk the same would happen to Australian animals exported to the region — even though our live export rules are supposed to prevent such abuse.”

The local traditions and the level  of world’s humanity aren’t always in balance. Most of the time, the discord in between is big as the hole of the opening hell for all of those who suffer every single day of their existence on the Earth, among so called humans.

We cannot turn each individual into vegetarian and for sure is that we cannot ban killing of animals for meat and feeding of people but what we can do is to insist to  ban live export and to reduce animal cruelty. There is no possibility that we will ever be forgiven for all we do against other living creatures but  I still believe in potential of humanity to protect them from terrible suffering and pain.

Be informed and dont let yourself to be opinionated. The suffering is real. Somewhere around you.

http://www.animalsaustralia.org/take_action/petitions/ban-live-export/

https://secure.animalsaustralia.org/features/stop-sledgehammering-animals/index.php

Be voice of the voiceless.