THE live export issue has come back into sharp focus with disturbing footage from inside Vietnamese abattoirs.
This behaviour is obviously a downright disgrace and should be met with scorn from all decent human beings.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has ruled out a live export ban.
However he says action will be taken.
Hopefully this talk equals real action.
A country and its people are usually judged on the value it places on its less fortunate citizens.
The sick, the weak, the young and the elderly.
Or its animals.
In the case of this Vietnamese abattoir, sledgehammers are used to repeatedly bludgeon Australian cows over the head before they succumb to their devastating injuries.
To put this into perspective, 13 slaughterhouses in North and Central Vietnam were visited by Animals Australia.
Of these 13 locations, only two met Australian standards.
Working in a slaughterhouse is not a glamorous business, and death is ultimately the end result.
However brutal and cruel methods are simply not necessary.
This is grubby and confronting footage, but it is important to view it.
It is important to see for your own eyes what is going on.
Australian animals live a tranquil life on our shores and are shipped off to a foreign land – reduced to a piece of meat eyeing down a sledgehammer.
Talk about a culture shock.
Fear and pain in any creature should be avoided wherever possible, but that simply is not the case in the footage broadcasted all over the internet and television.
Standards in these slaughterhouses must lift, and fast.
There is an acceptable code of practice which must be adhered to, and this must be communicated in no uncertain terms.
Thorough investigations are welcome, but the evidence is plain to see to anyone with a set of eyes.
In conclusion, humans simply must elevate themselves from being violent and cruel overlords.
Live export is not a sport, but a business.
Professionalism and decency is needed in all respectable workplaces, especially those like an abattoir.
