MERAMIST ABATTOIR NEIGHBOUR TELLS OF “FRANTIC” SOUNDS OF HORSES BROUGHT IN AT NIGHT
… horror at what happens next door.
The Meramist Abattoir in Caboolture is now at the centre of an animal cruelty scandal, but those who live near it say they have tried to raise concerns for years.
“It wasn’t always noisy,” says neighbour Naomi Rizniak.
At least not until they started to bring horses in at night.
Naomi Rizniak and her family moved into a quiet cul de sac in Caboolture about four years ago.
The property backs onto a reserve, where there’s a creek that is home to a platypus.
It seems the perfect place for her and her husband to raise their three young children, with their two friendly rescue pups.
A locked gate at the end of the street, though, is a disused back entrance to the Meramist Abattoir.
Meramist slaughters cattle, camels and horses — exporting horsemeat to Russia, Japan and parts of Europe for human consumption.
Multiple industry analysts estimate the business to be making $10 million to $20 million a year.
The slaughtering of racehorses [or for that matter ANY horses] is not illegal in Australia.
Last week, footage obtained by the ABC’s 7.30 program seemed to show some staff at Meramist kicking, beating, shocking, and verbally abusing former racehorses before they were slaughtered.
READ the FULL article here.
Further down the article continues…
Residents say it is under the cover of darkness that the truckloads of seemingly distressed horses arrive at the abattoir to be killed.
“It’s frantic … they’re scared … they could probably be walked off a truck into a paddock anywhere else, but here they’re not being walked off,” Naomi Rizniak says.
She says she hears staff swearing and yelling at the animals.
“They’re about to be killed. Isn’t that bad enough? Can’t they be given a bit of dignity?” she says.
Then there’s the sound of the hooves.
She describes the frantic clanging, like things hitting a steel fence. Enough to wake her at 2:00am, from 100 metres away, through fences, bushland and her home’s brick walls.
Watch the 31-second video clip at the top of this ABC NEWS page. (Warning the language and actions of Meramist staff are not for the faint of heart, but if we turn away and ignore such actions – are we part of the problem or part of the solution?)
If you have yet to see the ABCNEWS.AU.NET documentary “The Final Race”, watch it below.
So what can you do to help stop the slaughter or horses for human consumption or any other purpose in Australia?
Learn more by perusing the links in the menu above and via the button below. Thank YOU for caring!
#MOHM NEEDS YOUR HELP!
We’ve been threatened by those in the horse racing industry and those who benefit from horse slaughter more times than we can count.
But we are not going away.
We are going to persist until horse slaughter no longer exists for any purpose within Australia -- and until the horse racing industry makes drastic changes.
We are going to continue our hands-on work to offer lifelong sanctuary to as many horses as possible. We generally have 20 at just one of our locations - at any given time.
We have the acreage to take on more horses as financial support allows.
BUYING VERSUS RESCUING
WHAT'S YOUR DEFINITION OF RESCUING A HORSE?Above are just a few of the horses that we've rescued. Some were surrendered by owners, and others we've outbid doggers also known as kill buyers at auctions so that they didn't end up on a slaughter truck and at any of the...
FALSIFIED HORSE VENDOR DECLARATIONS
FOOD SAFETY BASED ON THE HONOUR SYSTEMWhistleblowers are invited to contact MOHM regarding violations occurring during horse slaughter or transport to slaughter. Are you an ex-slaughterhouse employee, a transport driver or a feedlot operator with knowledge of animal...
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