We must end cruel live export trade

WHEN will our Government do something about abolishing live animal exports?

This trade is cruel and we all know it, but some don’t want to face it.

We see the horrific suffering on television, but even this is not enough to end this disgraceful trade.

We do not have the right to say we have the best welfare regulations in the world while we sit by and watch this shocking cruelty unfold before us year after year.

These are animals that suffer overcrowding, lack of food, heat stress, pain and disease, as well as death while they are being transported overseas.

When they reach their destination, they are tortured and suffer shocking abuse before they are finally slaughtered.

If this were happening in Australia, the people perpetrating it would be charged as animal cruelty is prosecuted in this country.

Sending them overseas does not absolve us of the moral responsibility we bear once they are off our shores, because the cruelty begins on our shores and we know what awaits them during and at the end of their journey.

The chain of events runs right back to Australia and so does the responsibility.

No matter what regulations Australian authorities put in place, there is no way they can guarantee they will be enforced in another country.

TV footage proves that, and trying to hide the footage is a moral disgrace.

Australia makes much more money – $6.8 billion annually – in cold meat exports, far and beyond sales in live animal exports. There is an alternative.

HAZEL DAY, Girrawheen.