AUSTRALIA SHOULD BAN LIVE ANIMAL EXPORTS
INTRODUCTION
Year after year, Australians have been shocked by the images of the live export trade. However, despite this, the cruelty continues. Australia continues to export millions of livestock from our shores every year, condemning them to a painful and prolonged death. It was only last October that the “bloodbath” involving Australian sheep exported to the Middle East for the annual ‘Festival of Sacrifice’ , renewed calls for Australia to steer away from the live export trade after thousands were butchered on local streets. To add further disgust to Australians, it was only 2 months later in December, that the mechanical breakdown of a Western Australian ship saw 13000 animals stranded at sea.
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A WPA report in October 2010 showed that sheep processed domestically for meat are worth 20% more to the Australian economy compared to those that are exported live. The same report showed that another benefit of transitioning to a chilled meat trade is that the utilization of abattoirs currently operating at just 59% could contribute $204 million to the economy each year and create 1300 jobs.
The shift away from live animal exports is already showing great promise with the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture stating that the value of meat exports for 2014 was worth $10 billion more compared to that of live exports.
A phase-out of the cruel live export trade will not only have long term benefits for the Australian economy, it will prevent further support for an industry that every major international animal welfare organisation condemns as cruel and unacceptable.
REBUTTAL:
Both Pollan and Hurst agree that animals should be a part of our diet, however they disagree on the amount and type of meat people should consume. Pollan believes that people should limit the amount of meat that they eat, and that it should be organic (376). Hurst, on the other hand, believes that animals are free to be eaten, and that industrial farming is the only way to satisfy the increasing population. Both authors are concerned about the welfare of animals, but have opposing beliefs on how their wellbeing should be maintained. Hurst believes that animal should be upheld by the use of industrial farming tools that benefit the animals, such as pig gestational crates.
In the early twentieth century American ranchers tried to break up the Beef Trust. In 1917 there were four main companies that controlled the entire industry. While this trust was effectively busted, allowing ranchers to sell their cattle at competitive prices for a few decades, the Reagan administration allowed the top four meatpacking companies to combine. In 1970 they slaughtered 21% of the nation’s cattle today the slaughter 84%. This is causing many ranchers to sell their cattle and quit.
In “A Change of Heart about Animals,” Jeremy Rifkin says “many of our fellow creatures are more like us than we had ever imagined.” By doing so, Rifkin tries to appeal to human emotions through the use of pathos, in order to reflect our current viewpoint to match his opinion. Although animals have cognitive abilities and emotions similar to humans, I have to disagree on the basis that we should not change the way that we normally treat animals because of survival of the fittest and that human lives should be put over animals’. Despite the fact that it seems inhumane to treat animals poorly, it is actually beneficial to the lives of people. Rifkin raises questions such as, “So what does all of this portend for the way we treat our fellow
Grazing and growing feed for livestock now occupy 70% of all agricultural land and 30% of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the planet. If these current events continue, meat production is predicted to double between the turn of the 21st century and 2050. Yet already, the Earth is being overpowered by livestock that consume massive quantities of energy and resources, whose wastes contaminate waterways and farmlands, and when eaten excessively, degrade our health. Pollan makes a considerable point when discussing concentrated animal feedlot operations, “The economic logic of gathering so many animals together to feed them cheap corn in CAFOs is hard to argue with; it has made meat, which used to be a special occasion in most American homes” (pg. 67, An Omnivore's Dilemma).
Instead, big companies are choosing to risk their client’s health by feeding animals what they are not supposed to eat and pumping them with e Coli and stuffing them in a tiny barn where they can’t flap a wing and are forced to stand in feces which may or may not be their own . In The Jungle, they described how they treated dead animal meat, now just imagine how they must have treated the alive animals. This next quote is describing how they kept the meat . “Every Spring they did it; and in the barrels there would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water- and cartload after cartload of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public’s breakfast” (Pg. 143, The Jungle)
In the United States, according to the North American Meat Institute, the average man will consume about 6.9 oz of meat in a day, while a women will consume about 4.4 oz. Meat companies in America produced 25.8 billion pounds of beef and 38.4 pounds of chicken just in 2013 alone. People walk into grocery stores and purchase meat but never think twice about the environment their food, or the workers that handle the animals, were in. Upton Sinclair exposed the industry with “The Jungle” in 1906, people were now fully aware of what was sometimes in the meat, this lead to the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906. Therefore, once the 1980s came along, companies relocated to rural areas and became a non-union workforce.
The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock to the fast food industry. These industries hold significant value in the United States, employing more than half a million people. The meat industry holds the nations largest agricultural sector and sales of meat and exceeds over 100 billion dollars a year. The meat packing industry treats their employees with inhumane work conditions and unfair wages in the United States, most companies go to great extend to hide these truths.
In September 2012, Australian sheep were sent to the Middle East in breach of regulation where they were being sold in the market by traders. One out of the two-hundred sheep was seen dragged by their legs, dumped on bodies of dead sheep to have their life ended by their throat being cut out by a rusty
Rebuttal: Evidence that negates or disagrees with the counterclaim. Introduction Hook An interesting study conducted a few years ago attempted to put value on the economic worth of one church.
Although the issues of race, wage equality, and abortion are topics that have been addressed during this presidential election one of the most important issues in America is flying under the radar. Animal Production is the systematic production of animals for milk, eggs, and meat produced to the highest level which is used to lower the cost and mass distributed to the public for consumption. Advocates of mass animal production such as the blog greengarageblog.org, have argued that animal production is inexpensive due to the food being produced and processed at a faster rate, can offer jobs as it is one of the biggest industries in the United States, can allow for greater variety and availability as the food is so cheap and the biotechnological
The Meat Inspection Act required livestock to be inspected prior to slaughter, carcasses to be inspected postmortem, sanitary standards to be established in slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be allowed routine inspections of slaughter and processing operations. More than 1300 inspectors were hired by the Bureau of Animal Industries’ Meat Inspection Division to execute inspections in 163 institutions. Consumers benefitted from the enhanced quality of meats and knowledge of the foods they were purchasing. Very soon after it’s publication, The Jungle began to make impacts on an international level.
So they just ship dirty meat out for people to buy and eat. Meat plant workers are senseless. The meat packing plants are so unsanitary its just gross. With all of these factors, I believe the meat packing industry should get the rest of my
The meat industry has helped our economy become as strong as it is due the amount of people that consume it. According to an article by Zach Nold, he mentions the negatives of taking out the meat industry from our economy. He cites the EPA when he states, “The beef industry is so important that in the 2000s, it produced $49 billion annually in direct economic output” (Nold). This shows how big the meat industry is in our economy. Keep in mind, these numbers reflect only the beef industry, not including meats such as pork, chickens and other industries that produce meat.
The meat packing industry disregards animal’s emotions and their rights all together by the malicious treatment of animals. The way animals are being treated is highly unfair. Being slaughtered for their body parts and suffering just to be used for protein or an asset to humans is unbearable. An animal’s life is at equal values to a human and deserve the same rights as
More money is being spent by trying to sell bigger animals and at the end we end up paying for medical treatments that could be avoided. Let’s start making conscience and promote the welfare of animal as part of food