Destined for inhumane death?
Slaughter in suburbia: the unregulated farm animal trade
Home slaughter of farm animals is not illegal in Australia – but lack of oversight and regulation of practice, according to some, opens the door for inhumane slaughter.
Warning: This story contains distressing content.
It is a Sunday afternoon in a suburban backyard in Sydney. The mercury sits at 23 degrees Celsius. The sun shines on a fresh produce box with a string tied around it.
Inside contains a live rooster, agitatedly clucking for freedom, desperate to get out.
Be prepared for what is about to happen.
Jenny* is about to take us behind the scenes of a backyard farm animal slaughter. She has asked to remain anonymous due to fear of public scrutiny and online trolling.
We ask Jenny* how she makes sure those birds are being slaughtered in a humane fashion.
“Humane? You need to restrain the birds before running a sharp knife over their throat. I don’t think there is any other way?” she says.
Jenny* says this is a common traditional practice and those birds are only for personal consumption, not for sale.
“We’ve been doing it for generations.”
In Australia, home slaughter is legal if it is exclusively meant for personal consumption within a domestic environment. Depending on the jurisdiction, it is legal to treat farm animals in ways that would be considered inhumane if it was done to a companion animal.
Read more: Is home slaughter of farm animals humane?
(Click for more information. Credit: RSPCA)
(Click for more information. Credit: RSPCA)
The RSPCA "is opposed to home slaughter because of the lack of oversight and regulation of the practice so it cannot be guaranteed that animals will be humanely slaughtered,” a spokesman for RSPCA says.
Jenny* is not alone. In fact, the practice is more common than most people think.
The RSPCA says this is concerning due to “the differences in the regulation across jurisdictions in Australia for slaughter in the context of both commercial and home slaughter.”
But in Australia, home slaughter of farm animals without prior stunning is legally permitted for cultural, religious and traditional reasons in all states and territories. For example, the production of kosher and halal meat, adhering to Jewish and Islamic religious customs respectively, involves the practice of cutting an animal’s throat while it is fully conscious, followed by allowing the animal to bleed to death.
Read more: Is religious slaughter legal in Australia?
Jenny* says getting those animals is easy. “You can pretty much get them from any market in Sydney,” she adds.
Every Saturday,
this carpark located inside Paddy’s Market Flemington turns into a flea market.
If you love a bargain, this is your bright destination.
It might be a part of Australia’s largest market, but within this carpark-turned-garage sale, a rather different trade lurks in the shadows.
What you might not expect to find is a truck full of farm birds,
all locked up in cages, on display, ready for sale.
And if you think those birds are being sold just for pets, you better think again.
James Cassar, the poultry dealer who sells chickens and ducks, tells us,
“People are eating them, they're not taking them as pets.”
“People mightn’t like it.”
Cassar says he looks after his birds well.
He is aware that his birds will end up being slaughtered in people’s backyard for food.
“What they do with [them] is out of my control,” he says.
They don’t come cheap.
“Drake, you’re looking at $120......Ducks - $50 (each),” says Cassar.
They sell quick as well.
“Got none left, they’re all gone,” he says.
On any given Saturday, he sells around 15 to 20 ducks alone.
Today, he “sold about maybe 15 [ducks].”
Birds are usually packaged, contained, and transported in fresh produce boxes after being sold.
“You have to get there early in the morning, 7 or 8 o’clock, sometimes 6 if you want to pick the good ones. If you are late, they sold out or you [are] left with not-so-good ones”, says Jenny*, “it’s good money, it used to be half the price, then 100 [dollars], now 120 [dollars].”
Zoran who sells clothing in this flea market, says there are numerous farmers doing the same trade. Inside the market on Sunday, another pet shop owner also sells chickens and ducks, and Zoran believes they are also destined for backyard slaughter. The practice's been going on for quite some time, he says.
“[It’s] the same thing, like what he does is pretty much what these guys [do].”
The so-called humane rules and methods are too ambiguous and hard to follow, they don't make sense.
The RSPCA spokesman says the organisation opposes “the sale of individual farm animals destined for home slaughter because it cannot be guaranteed that such animals will be humanely and completely handled, transported, and then slaughtered.”
He adds that humane killing is "when an animal is either killed instantly or rendered insensible until death ensues, without pain, suffering or distress.”
“This means they must be stunned so they are insensible during bleeding out."
“Some stunning methods used in the context of slaughter include penetrating or non-penetrating captive-bolt devices; instruments for stunning by electric current; or the use of gas. Stunning and killing methods should only be used if they have been declared humane by recognised authorities and they meet these basic criteria."
“In most cases, the use of a firearm by a competent person is the most reliable and humane method. In addition, the method of killing and the skill of the operator are essential aspects of the slaughtering process.”
Jenny* says: “The RSPCA’s so-called humane rules and methods are too ambiguous and hard to follow, they don't make sense.”
Plus, ordinary Australians don’t just own guns, thanks to Australia’s strict gun control laws.
Australia relies on animal rights advocacy groups to push the government and regulatory authority for better animal welfare.
Improvements in animal welfare have been slow in Australia and recognition of animal sentience remains incomplete or lacking.
For companion dogs and cats, Australian law requires them to be microchipped and registered by the time they are six months old.
But for farm animals, the RSPCA says registration and microchipping are not required and it is uncommon, and “the reason for purchasing an [farm] animal at a sale yard is not usually required to be disclosed.”
* Not her real name.
Credits
Reporter: Jonathan Weitz-Freeman
Editors: Juliette O'Brien, Martin Newman
