Animal rights group releases covertly filmed video it says shows abuse in shearing sheds across three states in Australia. . The RSPCA has l...
Animal rights group releases covertly filmed video it says shows abuse in shearing sheds across three states in Australia. . The RSPCA has launched an investigation into footage that allegedly shows the severe abuse of sheep in numerous Australian shearing sheds. The animal rights group Peta has released video it says was taken covertly in 19 shearing sheds in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.The footage shows sheep being roughly handled, punched in the face and stamped upon. One sheep was beaten with a hammer while another was shown having a deep cut crudely sewn up.Peta said its investigators obtained had the images after gaining employment with farms and shearing contractors over the past year.Claire Fryer, a campaign coordinator at Peta Australia, declined to tell Guardian Australia the exact location of the shearing sheds, citing concerns about the safety of the whistleblowers.“I can say, though, that abuse was witnessed in each of the 19 shearing sheds and that a total of 70 staff were documented abusing sheep,” she said.“We didn’t see any vet care for any of the sheep and despite, them putting up no resistance, they were horribly abused. Sheep are very gentle animals and this was terrifying for them.“Shearers are unusually paid by volume, not by the hour, which encourages fast, rough work which cuts the bodies of sheep. Put simply, there is no such thing as humane wool. We’d urge Australians to leave wool out of their wardrobes entirely.”A spokeswoman for the RSPCA confirmed it was investigating whether the video shows breaches of animal welfare laws, but would not put a timeframe on these deliberations.“The vision made publicly available by Peta overnight shows sheep being beaten with shearing handpieces and thrown down a chute,” the RSPCA said.“The allegations are serious and will be investigated by RSPCA inspectors as information comes to hand for potential breaches of the relevant state animal welfare legislation.”Penalties for breaching animal welfare laws vary by state. For example, in NSW, the maximum penalty is a fine of $22,000 or five years in prison.Barnaby Joyce, the federal agriculture minister, said questions needed to be asked about the way Peta obtained the footage and why it held on to it for so long before releasing it.. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/sheep-cruelty-video-sparks-rspca-investigation Less
