- Despite public outrage since last week’s 7.30, up to 100 racehorses seen inside pens – slaughtered this morning
- 40 activists from Brisbane Animal Save will be holding a vigil outside Meramist today
40 activists will be holding vigil outside Meramist slaughterhouses today and will lay flowers for those recently slaughtered.
TIME: 2pm-5pm, Tuesday 22nd October
PLACE: Outside Meramist, 58 Old Gympie Rd, Caboolture
“Despite the public outrage since 7.30 report last week horses are still being slaughtered at Caboolture’s Meramist abattoir. Vision obtained yesterday shows around 100 horses that we understand would have been slaughtered this morning. Several brands indicating that many of these horses are racehorses were clearly visible from the fenceline.” said Mr Chay Neal, spokesperson for Animal Liberation Qld.
“Many people are rightly shocked to learn that these “prized” racehorses, many of which earning their trainers hundreds of thousands of dollars, are discarded for a few hundred bucks to be slaughtered.”
“This is the industry’s business model – breed, use, abuse, discard. The industry and government have been fully aware of this for years and have failed to address the problem.”
“Anyone that places a bet or supports the racing industry needs to ask themselves whether this is something they’re really comfortable supporting.” added Mr Neal.
“Of course, horses aren’t the only animals killed here. As shocking as the scenes on ABC’s 7.30 report last week were, we don’t believe they are that different from most other abattoirs around the country… “
“These scenes come as no surprise to us when you have animals valued only as property, poorly paid workers, and a complete lack of oversight and enforcement by the government.”
“For the Minister and Premier to claim to be shocked by this is insulting really, when we bring cases of serious animal cruelty to the Minister and his Department’s attention on a regular basis but we aren’t aware of a single prosecution. Regular meeting requests with the Premier and Minister to discuss these issues have been denied or ignored.”
Further comment – Chay Neal, Executive Director – [email protected]