Call to Shutdown Tnuva's Abattoir immediately

Call to Shut Down Tnuva’s Abattoir Immediately!

Translation: Anat Priddy

Date: December 18, 2012

The organization “Anonymus” along with “LAL” have jointly appealed a request from the Israeli Supreme court to shut down Tnuva’s   abattoir immediately, due to evidence of seriously mistreating the animals in the premises, a severe violation of animals’ rights. The footage aired on a very popular Israeli TV show, “Kolbotek”, on the most popular Israeli television channel, “arutz 2”.  The animals are represented by the two professional lawyers, Mr. Guy Nussan and Mr. Yossi Volfson.

The investigator Mr. Ronen Bar used a hidden camera, and worked in the abattoir for a whole month. Dr. Bida Johns, who represents Australia’s RSPCA, was watching the footage and condemned the treatment of the animals, along with the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), and the National Farmers' Federation.

In the footage it showed animals that were constantly beaten, electrically shocked in all different parts of their entire bodies, stepped on, yelled at, and so much more. It also showed an injured cow being dragged along the floor by a rope tied to its leg and other cattle being moved as they bled to death. All the workers were constantly abusing the animals. The workers were instructed to treat the animals better when a representative from Australis comes to visit the premises. As soon as the Australian representative is leaving the premises, the workers are instructed to beat, torture, humiliate and shock all the animals, including injured and ill ones.

The Israeli former representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Hagi Almagor said that he believes the abattoir must be shut down immediately, the managers of the premises must be brought to justice, and new regulations, rules, trained workers, supervisors, and managers must be present before the abattoir will be permitted to reopen.

 Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie said the incident made a mockery of the Australian federal government's attempts to clean up the embattled industry of animal trade. He added that the live export trade does not have the support of the public and wasn't in the nation's interest. The Australian Greens' animal welfare spokesperson Lee Rhiannon said the government's new live exports regulatory system had failed to protect animals sent abroad, and added that Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig could no longer pretend that the Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) was working effectively. The export of animals from Australia to Israel is banned. More information can be found at http://banliveexports.com, http://www.animalsaustralia.org/israel, www.TnuvaCruelty.co.il.