A slaughterhouse is a place few people will ever see. But its ‘products’ line the shelves of every supermarket. Behind every bottle of milk or packet of meat is an animal we’ll never know, and whose final moments we cannot comprehend. That is, until, cameras capture what’s really going on.

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The inescapable reality is that whenever animals are killed en masse, there will be fear and suffering. But tragically, this is the ‘best case scenario’. Vision supplied to Animals Australia has revealed a litany of daily horrors for the unwanted dairy calves, pigs, cows, sheep and goats sent to one of Victoria’s major slaughterhouses.

Equipment designed to reduce suffering is instead being used as a weapon of torture. Frightened animals are violently and repeatedly stabbed in the neck with prongs of an electrified stunner. This is not only painful — it’s ineffective and can leave animals still conscious and sensible to pain as their throats are cut.

Incredibly, while it remained in operation, this slaughterhouse was investigated for cruelty, twice. Which begs the question, if such routine and entrenched abuse is happening in a facility that should be under increased scrutiny, what hope is there for animals in slaughterhouses across the country, where nobody is watching…?

Mandatory and independently monitored CCTV may help curb extreme abuse. But it’s the demand for meat and dairy that’s fuelling this relentless pressure to kill and butcher animals quickly. Workers become frustrated, corners are cut and cruelty inevitably ensues. That’s partly why 1 in 3 Australians are now choosing to cut back on meat or cut it out completely — removing themselves from this perpetual cycle of cruelty and saving animals from the terror of slaughter.