For more news and videos visit ☛ http://english.ntdtv.com
Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision
Add us on Facebook ☛ http://facebook.com/NTDTelevision

The Australian Government is placing a ban on all live cattle exports to Indonesia. This comes after graphic footage of animal cruelty was released. This story from our local bureau in Australia. Please be warned some of the following footage is graphic.

The Australian Government has declared a ban on all live cattle exports to Indonesia. The decision follows a high profile ad campaign on national television for a ban after Animals Australia, an animal rights organization, exposed graphic footage of cattle suffering inhumane torture before slaughter.

[Joe Ludwig, Minister for Agriculture]:
"This suspension will be in place until the Government establishes sufficient safeguards to ensure there is verifiable and transparent supply chain assurance up to and including the point of slaughter for every consignment that leaves Australia".

The footage shows cattle in 12 Indonesian Abattoirs being subjected to torture methods such as eye gouging, forcing cattle to watch others being killed, and dismembering whilst still conscious.

[Glenys Oogjes, Executive Director of Animals Australia]:
"The very countries that we export to are developing countries and they don't have a history, a cultural history of looking out for animal welfare. And so essentially they've got a long way to go, most of these countries don't have animal welfare legislation, some of them have minimal legislation with no enforcement."

The temporary ban is likely to hit the over three hundred million dollar (AUD) export industry hard. Some Australian beef farmers in the North may not financially survive the total ban after already having been through a ten year drought.

NTD News, Melbourne, Australia.