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'Stabbed and decapitated while conscious': cruelty reported at seven QLD slaughterhouses
Media release: Friday 14 Mar 2025
Animal protection organisation Farm Transparency Project has released footage captured inside seven QLD slaughterhouses over a six-week period in August-September 2024. The footage, obtained through the use of covert cameras installed by the group, shows multiple breaches of state and federal animal welfare legislation, including ineffective stunning, abusive handling of animals, and animals being slaughtered while conscious and aware. At one facility, a sheep is stabbed multiple times and decapitated while still conscious, while pigs are seen drowning in the scalding tank. Farm Transparency Project is calling for the immediate closure of all seven facilities, which have been reported...
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SA government refuses to prosecute illegal slaughterhouse
Media release: Monday 9 Dec 2024
The South Australian government has confirmed to animal protection organisation Farm Transparency Project (FTP) that it will not be prosecuting the illegally operating slaughterhouse in Snowtown. The Snowtown Meat Service abattoir, 150km north of Adelaide, was formally reported in July 2023, after hidden cameras placed inside the facility by FTP revealed a complete absence of 'stunning' for goats and sheep, in clear violation of the Animal Welfare Act. Animals are pinned down and their throats cut while fully conscious, before they are shackled and left to slowly bleed out. While the facility has an exemption permitting them to 'stick'...
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Open letter to Prime Minister, signed by senator and state MPs, calls for independent regulation of animal slaughter
Media release: Thursday 24 Oct 2024
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Cassy O’Connor and Abigail Boyd join state MPs to call for independent oversight of Australian slaughterhouses Farm Transparency Project, who wrote the letter, says that the government has failed to appropriately investigate hundreds of cases of alleged animal cruelty. The organisation is accusing the government department of corruption, claiming that their actions have raised doubts about their integrity and suitability to monitor and regulate animal welfare. Read the open letter View photos and footage An open letter, signed by a senator, several state MPs and animal protection organisations, is calling on the Prime Minister's office...
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Open letter regarding inadequacy and corruption of abattoir regulator
Media release: Thursday 24 Oct 2024
Dear Mr Albanese, I am writing on behalf of Farm Transparency Project, a non-profit animal protection organisation focused on raising public awareness about commercial animal farming and slaughter practices through comprehensive investigations into Australian animal use facilities. Over the past decade, our organisation has investigated a number of facilities and practices, catalysing significant animal welfare reforms. In recent years, this has included: Publishing footage of the foothold trapping and killing of native dingoes in Victoria by government contractors, stimulating debate and likely contributing to the Victorian government ending the practice in parts of the state. Investigating the failed phase-out of...
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Major Melbourne slaughterhouse under fire again for ‘deeply disturbing’ animal cruelty
Media release: Thursday 5 Sep 2024
Hidden camera footage showing the ‘shocking' treatment of animals at a major Melbourne slaughterhouse has been released by animal advocacy group Farm Transparency Project. The footage, which was captured in June this year, depicts workers writing and drawing on the bodies of sheep and goats with blood, animals appearing to have their throats slit while fully conscious, goats and sheep struggling while soaked in the blood of others and even one mother goat giving birth in the stunning restraint, seconds before her throat is slit. The footage was captured at Cedar Meats, which has been rocked by scandals over...
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Sheep and goats killed while conscious at ‘notorious’ Echuca slaughterhouse
Media release: Wednesday 14 Aug 2024
New hidden camera footage has been captured at a Victorian slaughterhouse, which has been previously exposed twice for animal cruelty. The footage, captured this year by Farm Transparency Project, shows sheep and goats being beaten and thrown by workers, as well as having their throats slit while fully conscious. MD Foods (formerly Riverside Meats) reopened in 2021, three years after shutting down. A 2016 investigation revealing significant animal cruelty had led to a mandated installation of CCTV to monitor slaughter. View photos and footage Animal advocacy organisation Farm Transparency Project has released new hidden camera footage, taken during a covert investigation by...
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Workers caught using bodies of pigs and sheep as punching bags at major Victorian slaughterhouse
Media release: Tuesday 26 Mar 2024
Ineffective and painful stunning causes suffering to sheep, pigs, goats and cows. Hidden cameras captured workers at Gathercole’s Wangaratta slaughterhouse using the bodies of sheep and pigs as punching bags, hitting them as they hang suspended on the shackle line, or as they are pulled onto the kill table to have their throat slit. Footage also shows ineffective stunning of pigs, sheep, goats and cows who are shot or electrocuted multiple times as they struggle, before their throats are slit. Gathercole’s is the 13th slaughterhouse exposed by Farm Transparency Project in the past year, as part of a...
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Activists publish interactive virtual tours of Tasmanian slaughterhouses
Media release: Tuesday 19 Mar 2024
Animal protection organisation Farm Transparency Project (FTP) has published interactive virtual tours of two Tasmanian slaughterhouses recently exposed for cruelty The tours were filmed with 360-degree cameras inside Tasmanian Quality Meats at Cressy, and Scottsdale Pork, during FTP's covert investigation last year With the state election just days away, FTP has published the tours - which incorporate footage from hidden cameras - to draw attention to months of inaction by the Rockliff government Farm Transparency Project (FTP) has published on its website two interactive virtual slaughterhouse tours, filmed last year with 360° cameras inside the Tasmanian Quality Meats and Scottsdale Pork...
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Victorian slaughterhouse re-exposed by hidden cameras, 10 years after cruelty allegations
Media release: Tuesday 5 Mar 2024
Farm Transparency Project has released new footage of the slaughter of cows at Gathercole’s slaughterhouse in Wangaratta. The footage shows cows seemingly still conscious after multiple shots to the head, thrashing and kicking while workers pull them by their tails and poke them with sharp objects. Gathercole’s Wangaratta slaughterhouse was investigated by the same group in 2014, with footage showing the incorrect and painful stunning of pigs and lambs. Photos and footage: https://www.farmtransparency.org/facilities/59c0f-gathercoles-wangaratta-abattoir New hidden camera footage captured in January of this year shows cows shot in the head multiple times with a...
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New anti-dairy campaign takes aim at Dairy Australia’s flagship education program
Media release: Tuesday 27 Feb 2024
Farm Transparency Project has released a new campaign calling for a ban of Dairy Australia’s Discover Dairy program, which provides lesson plans and activities to schools. The campaign, titled End Dairy Slaughter, features footage of the slaughter of week-old bobby calves and 4-6 year old dairy cows being violently slaughtered, which has been captured in Australian slaughterhouses in the past year. Farm Transparency Project is calling out Dairy Australia for manipulative and deceptive targeting of children through their program which the group claims is biased and inaccurate. A mother cow chases after a trailer taking away her newborn calf. ...
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Cruelty still rampant at infamous Tasmanian slaughterhouse, seven years on
Media release: Tuesday 30 Jan 2024
New footage from Gretna Quality Meats has revealed that animal cruelty is still rife, seven years after the facility was originally exposed by Animal Liberation in 2016. Footage, released by Farm Transparency Project and captured in September 2023, shows pigs, cows and sheep still blinking, thrashing and trying to stand for minutes after their throats had been slit, as well as cows who are shot in the head multiple times before they collapse. A 2016 exposé of the slaughterhouse led to calls for the facility to be shut down, including from the RSPCA. Investigators are now saying that nothing has changed. Gretna Meatworks...
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Protesters plan disruption at Cressy slaughterhouse after release of “shocking” hidden camera footage
Media release: Monday 15 Jan 2024
Campaigners from Animal Liberation Tasmania and Farm Transparency Project are planning on disrupting animal transport trucks at Tasmanian Quality Meats slaughterhouse, in a protest against “systemic animal cruelty in Tasmanian slaughterhouses.”
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Federal government fails to act on horrific animal cruelty at major Tasmanian slaughterhouse
Media release: Friday 22 Dec 2023
Tasmanian Quality Meats has been given the all-clear from the federal government to return to business as usual, despite evidence of systemic animal abuse exposed by us earlier this month. The slaughterhouse was originally threatened with losing its export license after our footage showed dozens of calves being violently killed while fully conscious, as well as workers kicking, hitting and throwing calves and sheep. But, after pressure from the slaughterhouse and the state government, the federal government has backed down, opting to allow the slaughterhouse to keep its licence to export sheep, and requiring that they replace their restrainer before...
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Statement in Response to Tasmanian Slaughterhouse Announcement
Media release: Thursday 14 Dec 2023
All talk, little action The Tasmanian government has just released their response to our shocking exposé of Tasmanian slaughterhouses, and its far from the decisive action they pledged to take just four days ago. Rather than responding to evidence of systemic animal abuse immediately, the government has announced that the most they can manage is to re-investigate the facilities and form a task force to consider developing new animal welfare guidelines. Given that all five slaughterhouses we investigated were already in breach of existing state and national welfare legislation, we fail to see what developing new ones will manage, except...
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Major Tasmanian abattoir suspended and four more under investigation after animal advocacy group reveals “systemic animal abuse and regulatory breaches”
Media release: Friday 8 Dec 2023
View photos and footage: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14oe6RnPEip5M0CMPALvQECagjPiP1tzQ?usp=drive_link Animal advocacy group Farm Transparency Project has released hidden camera footage from five Tasmanian slaughterhouses, in what they’re calling a comprehensive and damning indictment of the state’s animal welfare regulators. The footage shows the slaughter of sheep, cows, deer, pigs and week-old ‘bobby calves’ from the dairy industry. Many animals are revealed to be killed while fully conscious, including dozens of bobby calves who are captured dying slowly over minutes as they bleed out. Farm Transparency Project is working with...
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15 animal activists charged over April slaughterhouse occupation, as pig welfare inquiry looms
Media release: Friday 10 Nov 2023
15 animal activists have been charged with trespass, seven months after they occupied a Benalla slaughterhouse in a protest against the use of gas chambers in pig slaughterhouses. The protest, which happened on April 13th, was in response to an investigation of three Victorian pig slaughterhouses, which revealed pigs screaming, thrashing and gasping for air inside carbon dioxide gas chambers. Seven protestors were arrested and charged on the day, while the remaining 15 were allowed to leave voluntarily, after chains and other devices they were using to lock-on were removed by police. 15 animal rights protestors have been charged with trespass after shutting...
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Animal activists vow to break into and expose 30 slaughterhouses over two years to force industry transparency
Media release: Monday 10 Jul 2023
Animal advocate Chris Delforce has today announced that his organisation, Farm Transparency Project, plans to break into 30 slaughterhouses over the next two years, to capture and expose footage of Australian animal slaughter to the public. Delforce, who earlier this year shared groundbreaking new footage of pigs being gassed to death in Victorian slaughterhouses after hiding in a gas chamber, stated that his organisation has already investigated six slaughterhouses this year, and will be releasing a new investigation this week. Footage from three new Australian slaughterhouses is promised over the next few weeks, with Delforce sharing that Farm Transparency Project has...
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Animal rights campaigners hold candlelight vigil and memorial to remember pigs killed in gas chambers
Media release: Saturday 17 Jun 2023
Campaigners held an early-morning vigil outside Diamond Valley Pork while pigs were being killed in the gas chamber inside They followed this with an evening memorial in Melbourne CBD where they lay to rest the bodies of three piglets who they say represent the millions of pigs killed in Australian slaughterhouses every year The protests were part of a national weekend of action calling for a federal inquiry into pig slaughter methods and a ban on the use of gas chambers in Australian slaughterhouses Animal rights campaigners from Farm Transparency Project have organised a candlelight slaughterhouse vigil and city memorial...
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Victorian Parliament announces inquiry into pig welfare after advocates expose systemic animal cruelty
Media release: Thursday 25 May 2023
A Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into pig welfare has been announced less than two months after investigators from Farm Transparency Project released shocking footage of pigs being gassed to death in Victorian slaughterhouses.
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Abattoir at the centre of pig gassing scandal shuts down to avoid mandated CCTV
Media release: Wednesday 26 Apr 2023
Australian Food Group slaughterhouse in Laverton has shut down rather than installing CCTV mandated by government regulator PrimeSafe, according to a report by ABC. The slaughterhouse was last month at the centre of a national exposé into the use of gas chambers in pig slaughterhouses, after animal advocate Chris Delforce spent almost 10 hours inside the chamber filming the agonising deaths of pigs inside. Delforce says that AFG's choice to stop operating rather than install CCTV inside their chamber is "typical" of an industry unwilling to take accountability, however it represents a "massive win for pigs." One of Victoria's three largest...
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Animal advocates lock themselves inside a gas chamber to protest ‘barbaric’ use in Australian pig slaughterhouses
Media release: Thursday 13 Apr 2023
30 protestors have stopped operations at Benalla slaughterhouse in Northern Victoria, chaining themselves onto the gas chamber used to paralyse pigs for slaughter.
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Activist hid inside deadly gas chamber in Victorian slaughterhouse to film horrific final moments of pigs
Media release: Monday 27 Mar 2023
Prominent animal advocate Chris Delforce hid inside one of the pork industry’s “humane” carbon dioxide gas chambers to document the gassing of pigs. New footage captured by Farm Transparency Project inside Victoria’s three largest slaughterhouses, revealed exclusively on ABC’s 7.30 program last night, shows thousands of pigs screaming and thrashing in agony as they are lowered into the gas. This investigation comes 9 years after Delforce first used hidden cameras to expose the use of gas chambers for pigs; the first time in the world that the widespread practice had been captured on camera. He says it “has only...
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Cruelty complaint lodged against Victorian turkey slaughterhouse
Media release: Tuesday 23 Feb 2021
Confronting hidden camera footage has revealed systemic improper stunning of turkeys before they are brutally decapitated in an abattoir in Numurkah, Victoria.
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‘Horrific but legal’ undercover footage from Sydney slaughterhouse released as NSW & Federal Govt seek to criminalise whistleblowing
Media release: Thursday 29 Aug 2019
Animal rights organisations Aussie Farms and Animals Within have released new footage captured by a hidden body-worn camera at the Picton Meatworx (formerly Wollondilly Abattoir), a multi-species slaughterhouse south of Sydney, amid efforts by the NSW and Federal Governments to severely increase penalties for activists who expose animal cruelty.
