A Tasmanian abattoir that is being investigated over animal cruelty allegations has been given the green light to continue exporting sheep, but its license to slaughter calves for export has been suspended.
Earlier this month, animal activists released footage taken inside Tasmanian Quality Meats’ (TQM) Cressy slaughterhouse in the state’s north.
The film shows calves and sheep being handled roughly and stunned incorrectly, with many appearing to be conscious at the time of their deaths.
The videos have been condemned by farmers, animal activists, politicians and the abattoir itself, with owner Jake Oliver saying the behaviour was “utterly unacceptable and fails to meet the high standards TQM expects”.
The federal government, which received a copy of the videos, moved quickly, threatening to suspend TQM’s export license.
But the abattoir is the state’s largest exporter of sheep and many in the agricultural community feared the effect it would have on the industry.
Now the federal Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department has confirmed it will allow TQM to continue exporting lamb and sheep, but it has placed a number of conditions on the abattoir’s registration, including requiring new equipment before it can export bobby calves.
“The decision is a partial suspension of the registration of Tasmanian Quality Meats’ establishment in relation to export operations for handling, receiving and slaughter of bobby calves, and the imposition of additional stringent conditions on the registration of the establishment more generally,” a department spokesperson said.
In order to keep its licence, the federal government said TQM must engage “an independent animal welfare expert with experience in meat processing facilities”, that is agreed to by the [agriculture] department, to “undertake a root cause analysis of the animal welfare practices” at TQM.
While TQM already has CCTV, the federal government wants it to increase the number of cameras to ensure CCTV covers all critical points within the abattoir.
The footage then needs to be reviewed daily by an animal welfare officer — who is not a current or former employee of TQM — to make sure the export control act is being complied with.
Any observed failures need to be reported to the “departmental on-plant vet” within 24 hours.
The CCTV footage has to be retained for 12 months and be provided to the department within 24 hours of a request.
A person in management also needs to provide the department with a signed declaration on the last day of each month confirming the abattoir is complying with animal welfare regulations, “any incidents raised, observed failures and the corrective actions undertaken to rectify these failures”.
Staff need to be properly trained or retrained in the use of the restrainer and stunner.
TQM has also been told it cannot export bobby calves until it has a suitable restrainer for “processing” them, and its effective operation must be observed by department officers before it can be used for export.
Abattoir owner Jake Oliver told the Tasmanian Country Hour he was feeling very relieved and had agreed to all of the conditions.
“They’re very practical and we’re all for implementing them,” Mr Oliver said.
When questioned about why he needed to order a new restrainer for bobby calves, Mr Oliver admitted that TQM’s restrainer “didn’t quite suit all size animals”.
“That’s why we put in actions to voluntarily stop processing bobby calves until we could put in a restrainer that’s adjustable and would suit all sizes,” he said.
Mr Oliver said TQM had already made the decision to stop processing calves, but conceded the federal government had “made it formal”.
“They’ve partially suspended [our export registration], so they’ve taken away our bobby calf license, to process bobby calves,” he said.
“But that’s only for a short time till we can show them we’ve put in the right equipment which is the new restrainer, and they’ve approved that process.”
Mr Oliver said TQM had already done a large amount of retraining, which it would inform the department of.
Some conditions merely ‘words on paper’
Animals Australia legal counsel Shatha Hamade said she was sceptical about the conditions imposed.
“Conditions such as [doing an] independent root cause analysis report, and monthly declaration reports from management, these are words on paper … these are not translating to what is actually happening within those facilities,” Ms Hamade said.
“The additional CCTV monitoring by an animal welfare officer again, this comes down to where is the independence? Where are they cutting through the cultural issue, that clearly is within this facility?
“So if there is not a public sorry, an independent monitoring of those CCTV cameras, then these conditions will have no effect whatsoever and again, can give the Tasmanian community no confidence that anything has changed or been addressed.”
However Mr Hamade welcomed the federal government’s decision to suspend TQM’s license to kill bobby calves for export.
“Given the egregious cruelty that is being suffered by the calves at this facility, the fact that that part of the operations has been suspended until new infrastructure and additional training is in place is a positive thing,” she said.
“However, who is monitoring this line when it does resume? Where is the independence around that?”
The root cause review is to be completed by the end of March with the full report to be provided to both TQM and the department.
The department spokesperson said the decision related to TQM’s export registration only.
“Any decisions relating to the establishment’s ability to supply meat for the domestic market remains the responsibility of the Tasmanian government,” the spokesperson said.
