n the 21st of November 2011, 'Kate' was given unprecedented open access to an abattoir in Victoria's Gippsland. What she captured on film shocked and appalled authorities who, within hours of receiving a formal complaint and video from Animals Australia, shut the slaughterhouse down and launched a full investigation. Three workers pleaded guilty to cruelty charges.In her witness statement 'Kate' described how stunning equipment was routinely stabbed into the eyes and ears of pigs and recounted the awful final moments of one terrified pig who had escaped the killing pen before being beaten to death with a sledgehammer. Tragically, another escaped pig ran into the scalding tank.Australian regulations and standards failed to protect these animals from cruelty but as the footage reveals, even if they had, animals would still have been afraid; they still would have suffered.Wherever animals are handled and slaughtered on mass there will be suffering and there will be fear. This is the reality of factory farming and slaughterhouses in Australia.The final moments of animals raised for food are seldom known or told, yet they desperately need to be. Because we live on, and we still have choices to make, they need us to make informed and compassionate ones.