Animals Australia probe discovers some Vietnamese abattoirs use sledgehammer on alive Aussie cattle

In the last few years, Australia had to ban export of live cattle to several countries for the inhumane way cows and sheep are slaughtered, based on undercover surveillance of abattoirs. Latest covert probe indicate Vietnam may possibly be included in the list made up previously of Israel, Egypt and Indonesia.

The federal government of Australia has launched an investigation of slaughterhouse practices in Vietnam, following the discovery by Animals Australia of the brutal manner the animals are slaughtered, reports ABC. Footage from a surveillance video showed abattoir workers hitting live cattle with a sledgehammer several times until it was bludgeoned to death.

In one video, a worker hit a cow on the head five times until the animal fell to the ground. The butcher then hit the cattle four more times until it died. Commenting on the brutality seen on the video footage, Animals Australia campaign director Lyn White says, “I thought I’d seen it all, and I haven’t.”

Because Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce rejected a live export ban, although he assured action would be taken, White calls on the live export industry in Australia to suspend shipments to Vietnam temporarily until the Southeast Asian country could declare its supply chain secure, reports The Daily Telegraph. Joyce, the agriculture minister, suspended all exports to three Vietnamese slaughterhouses identified in the video even if it has not been confirmed that the animals killed in the footage were shipped from Australia.

Joyce stresses, “The treatment is totally abhorrent and it is the very antithesis of the animal welfare standards the Australian Government has been working towards and promoting internationally.” Aussie rules prescribe the way how the live animals would be treated from leaving an Australian farm to slaughter in another country.

Besides the brutal way the cattle are culled, White discloses the abattoirs routinely remove the eartags to prevent tracing the source of the animal and delivering the cattle to non-accredited slaughterhouses which commit the standards violations. She estimates around 10,000 animals shipped from Australia to Vietnam are killed in an inhumane manner yearly.

Out of 13 abattoirs that Animals Australia visited in north and central Vietnam, only two met Australia requirements for approved slaughterhouses, White says. Meat workers confirmed the cattle they slaughtered are from Australia which are confirmed by the distinct ear notches of Aussie cattle.

VIDEO: Australia moves to suspend cattle trade to “identified Vietnamese abattoirs” after bludgeoning video