A live export company in Australia, already under investigation for egregious animal abuses, has been caught on camera attacking a camel who was unable to climb a steep ramp onto a transport ship.

Photo: Animals Australia

Animals Australia, a group that has conducted many undercover investigations exposing live export atrocities, released the footage of a worker affiliated with Livestock Shipping Services illegally using an electric prod on the struggling camel.

https://youtu.be/HY-1DV8QXzM

At a time when opposition to live exports has reached a fever pitch due to the extreme abuse exposed in undercover investigations, the Australian government should be eliminating the trade altogether. Instead, it is working to expand the live exports and is in the midst of finalizing a deal to ship up to one million cattle per year to China.

Australian sheep in Kuwait for home sacrifice (Photo: Animals Australia)

Activists in Australia face many daunting challenges in their campaign to end live exports. Both major political parties support the trade; the major TV networks rarely air the damning footage; and the powerful industry makes arguments that resonate with the public — that the farmers “love” their animals; that the abuses exposed are rare; and that middle-class jobs would be lost if live exports would be eliminated.

Australian cow in Gaza (photo: Animals Australia)

Until live exports are eliminated, people who advocate on behalf of animals will echo the words of Australian activist Simon Whitehouse: “There is no excuse for animal abuse. No matter how much money is involved, animals should never be subjected to the cruelty which is inherent and systemic to the Australian live export trade.”

As the number of animals exported increases, so does the number of activists. On November 30th, 700 people protested live exports in Perth, Australia.

Send a message to the Australian embassy in your country.

please visit Ban Live Export for more information about Australia’s grisly live export trade and to find other ways you can help.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has until early December to sign or veto a bill banning gestation crates, the small metal cages that intensely confine female breeding pigs for most of their adult lives. He vetoed a similar bill in 2013, claiming that pig farmers made a more persuasive argument than the activists.

Even though the current bill was passed in the House and Senate and has the support of 93% of NJ residents, Christie has suggested to Iowa farmers that he intends to veto it. Iowa, a key state in the race for President, is the nation’s biggest pork producer.

In an editorial on November 21st. the Asbury Park Press, a local NJ newspaper, wrote, “If he vetoes the ban, he’s a lost cause. We can then be certain that from here forward everything Christie does as governor will be based on how it will influence his presidential campaign.”

Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s Daily Show, catapulted Christie’s political dilemma into the national spotlight in a comical eight minute segment with a very strong anti-gestation crate point of view:

https://youtu.be/9fV1b5vHH80

In late October, Jane Velez-Mitchell spoke to a panel of guests about gestation crates. During the interview, HSUS Public Policy Manager Matthew Dominguez said that the political landscape has changed since 2013 and that Iowa voters support a ban on gestation crates.

If Christie does, in fact, veto the gestation crate bill – for a second time – he will assuredly become a target of the animal rights community.

Chris Christie (Photo: Lee Day)

Gestation crates are being phased out in several states and by several pork producers at the request of their customers, including major corporations like McDonalds. However, far more work needs to be done to eliminate these crates in the U.S. and worldwide.

For the past several years, Australia and China have been working on an agreement which, when signed, could lead to Australia shipping up to one million live cattle to China each year. The deal is being finalized at a time when local and international opposition to live exports has reached a fever pitch due to the extreme animal abuse exposed in undercover investigations.

TV journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell speaks to Tanya Hardy, a veteran activist in Australia, about the deal with China and the cruelty of live exports.

According to Animals Australia, “Most animals who are exported live for slaughter have their throats cut while fully conscious. Millions have died at sea. Some 30 investigations have revealed that in destination countries, many animals endure routine abuse and brutal slaughter in places where laws do not protect them from cruelty.”  Following is one of many examples of extreme suffering experienced by animals exported from Australia.

https://youtu.be/5K96eQXgVSk?list=UU3RcYC2_7Ias6mO39k1LVLQ

Australia’s live export controversy has not received much media attention in the U.S., but the impending $1 billion deal with China is so substantial that the New York Times wrote a story about it. At the end of the lengthy article, the Times mentions – and virtually dismisses – the humane issues, leading readers to believe that they have been adequately addressed:

“The leader of the exporters’ group, said that all animals exported from Australia were closely tracked and that there were strict regulations about their welfare before export, during shipping and even after they landed in a foreign country. The regulations were tightened after export bans were imposed after accusations of cruelty in some Indonesian slaughterhouses.”

Cattle being loaded onto ship

Send a message to the Australian embassy in your country.

please visit Ban Live Export for more information about Australia’s grisly live export trade and to find other ways you can help.

What happens when you put the illustrious Jenny Brown, co-founder of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, in a room with TV personality Jane-Velez Mitchell two weeks before Thanksgiving? Step inside to find out.

Please note that the videos contain short clips from factory farms for viewers who have never seen them.

Support the life-saving work of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary by sponsoring a turkey.

Undercover investigations conducted at factory farms change hearts and minds. Please share this Mercy For Animals video taken at a Butterball turkey factory.

Being gay has its advantages from time to time. And for a bull in Ireland who is sexually attracted to other bulls, it might just save his life.

Benjy is a charolais bull like this one (photo: Wikicommons)

At first, his homosexuality was a premature death sentence. Because Benjy won’t inseminate female cows, his owner decided to fatten him up and ship him off to an early slaughter. Upon reading about the gay bull in a local paper, however, the Irish animal rights group ARAN (Animal Rights Action Network) partnered with the U.K.’s biggest online gay magazine and a prominent farm animal sanctuary to raise money to buy him and pay for his care at the sanctuary.

Putting Benjy in the the spotlight has been a strategy to not only save his life but also direct peoples’ attention to the plight of “food” animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses. Benjy, ARAN says, would be a great ambassador for all farm animals.

John Carmody, the founder of ARAN, is “urging members of the public to step in and help save Benjy so that this little fellow live out his natural life in peace.” Please consider making a donation.