The Local Meat Co
Owned by 2024 Tasmanian of the Year, Stephanie Trethewey, and her husband Sam. Hidden camera footage shows ‘sustainable beef’ cows shot with a rifle up to eight times before losing consciousness and forced into the kill room using a hammer and a metal pipe. Investigators also captured footage of workers jabbing sheep and cows with painful electric prodders, including in the face and genitals, as well as beating, head-butting, kicking and throwing sheep to the ground.
One cow is documented crying out in pain after having been shot in the head multiple times, while others become stuck in the stunning box and have their head crushed in the machinery, while they continue to display signs of consciousness.
The footage is part of a comprehensive investigation of five Tasmanian slaughterhouses, which showed systemic violence, cruelty and illegal activity.
In 2022, Stephanie and Sam purchased the former Kentish Quality Meats slaughterhouse near Sheffield in northern Tasmania, and rebranded it as The Local Meat Co. This was proudly stated on their website and social media pages, and in media interviews, and confirmed in ASIC records and domain registrations.
Following the release of our hidden camera footage on 1 Jan 2024, Stephanie frantically attempted to hide evidence of her involvement in the company. Steph and Sam’s names have been removed from the @tas_ag_co account bio on instagram. Comments are disabled on the Tasmanian Agricultural Company Facebook page, which has blocked Farm Transparency Project's account, and the @tas_ag_co instagram has been set to private. The ‘what we do’ and ‘our story’ sections on their website have had key details removed, and the domain registration has been changed from Steph’s name to her husband’s.
Rather than taking accountability for the horrific cruelty we have exposed, Stephanie Trethewey has done everything to try to hide her involvement and minimise backlash.
Campaigns (1)
Photos (52)
Videos (11)
Documents (0)
Campaign materials (0)
News (9)
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Government accepts taskforce recommendations for abattoirs and will increase monitoring
Monday 11 Nov 2024 by
The government has released the recommendations of a taskforce it set up in the wake of distressing footage of alleged animal cruelty at abattoirs. Read the latest. Read more >
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Tasmanian reforms promise better animal welfare by 2025
Sunday 10 Nov 2024 by
Tasmania adopts 11 of 12 taskforce reforms for better animal welfare in abattoirs by 2025, enhancing humane practices and boosting surveillance. Read more >
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Greens claim the government is "dragging its feet" on a report
Wednesday 17 Apr 2024 by
The state government has held firm against claims that it's "dragging its feet" on a taskforce report into Tasmanian slaughterhouses. Read more >
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Action not happening fast enough six months on from ‘shocking’ slaughterhouse videos: Greens
Tuesday 16 Apr 2024 by
Six months ago, animal activists released ‘disturbing’ videos shot in Tasmanian slaughterhouses — Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff says more action is needed immediately. Read more >
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Liberals sitting on abattoir cruelty taskforce, Greens claim
Saturday 16 Mar 2024 by
Latest on Tasmanian abattoir animal cruelty taskforce findings amid election season. Greens, Liberals clash over reforms. Read more >
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Did Farm Transparency Project Just Help Topple a Government?
Thursday 15 Feb 2024 by
When activists with Farm Transparency Project first walked into the Tasmanian Quality Meats slaughterhouse in the dead of night, they had no idea that the project they were embarking on would be a significant contributing factor in toppling the Tasmanian Liberal government... Read more >
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Tasmania to mandate CCTV in abattoirs to stop animal cruelty
Wednesday 31 Jan 2024 by
Investigation into Tasmania's abattoirs exposed animal abuse allegations. Government creates livestock taskforce and considers new regulations to improve animal welfare. Read more >
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Stephanie Tretheway, Australian of the Year nominee, condemns 'crazy vegans' as her farm is targeted by animal rights activists | Daily Mail Online
Friday 19 Jan 2024 by
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Tasmanian minister puts abattoir industry on notice after 'distressing' video released by activists
Sunday 10 Dec 2023 by
Tasmania's primary industries minister says "nothing is off the table" as the government acts to ensure what she has called distressing images of animal cruelty in a leaked animal rights video does not happen again. Read more >
Media releases by FTP (4)
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2024 Tasmanian of the Year, Stephenie Trethewey, desperately hides evidence of slaughterhouse ownership
Tuesday 2 Jan 2024
Meet Stephanie Tretheway, the 2024 Tasmanian of the Year. Last night we exposed The Local Meat Co, a Tasmanian slaughterhouse where cows and sheep are brutally killed. This slaughterhouse was bought in 2022 by Stephanie and her husband Sam through their business Tas Ag Co (@tas_ag_co). Up until last night, their ownership of the slaughterhouse was proudly listed on their website and social media accounts, and confirmed in ASIC records, domain registrations, and media interviews. Following the release of the footage, we received an email from Stephanie, threatening legal action if we didn’t remove all mentions of her ownership... Read more >
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Slaughterhouse owned by 2024 Tasmanian of the Year facing increasing pressure with the release of new hidden camera footage
Tuesday 2 Jan 2024
Animal advocacy group Farm Transparency Project has released new footage from the Local Meat Co, showing cows and sheep being beaten and ineffectively stunned before slaughter. Some footage of the Local Meat Co was exposed in December, alongside four other Tasmanian slaughterhouses, but the full footage has only now been released to the public. The slaughterhouse is owned by 2024 Tasmanian of the Year, Steph Trethewey, who bought the business with her husband in 2022. Read more >
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Statement in Response to Tasmanian Slaughterhouse Announcement
Thursday 14 Dec 2023
All talk, little action The Tasmanian government has just released their response to our shocking exposé of Tasmanian slaughterhouses, and its far from the decisive action they pledged to take just four days ago. Rather than responding to evidence of systemic animal abuse immediately, the government has announced that the most they can manage is to re-investigate the facilities and form a task force to consider developing new animal welfare guidelines. Given that all five slaughterhouses we investigated were already in breach of existing state and national welfare legislation, we fail to see what developing new ones will manage, except... Read more >
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Major Tasmanian abattoir suspended and four more under investigation after animal advocacy group reveals “systemic animal abuse and regulatory breaches”
Friday 8 Dec 2023
View photos and footage: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14oe6RnPEip5M0CMPALvQECagjPiP1tzQ?usp=drive_link Animal advocacy group Farm Transparency Project has released hidden camera footage from five Tasmanian slaughterhouses, in what they’re calling a comprehensive and damning indictment of the state’s animal welfare regulators. The footage shows the slaughter of sheep, cows, deer, pigs and week-old ‘bobby calves’ from the dairy industry. Many animals are revealed to be killed while fully conscious, including dozens of bobby calves who are captured dying slowly over minutes as they bleed out. Farm Transparency Project is working with... Read more >
ABN Lookup
| ABN | 83 623 615 083 (open lookup) |
| Entity name | TASMANIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY PTY LTD |
| ABN status | Active from 07 January 2018 |
| Entity type | Australian Private Company |
| Goods & Services Tax (GST) | Registered from 27 February 2018 |
| Main business location |
TAS 7304 from 01 July 2020 VIC 3013 from 07 January 2018 to 01 July 2020 |
| ABN last updated | 01 July 2020 |
| Extracted from ABR | 20 December 2024 |
