Investigators behind “horrific” footage of pigs being gassed to death stage peaceful sit-in at Australian Pork Limited, seeking meeting with CEO
Monday 3 April

• Animal cruelty investigators from the group Farm Transparency Project have travelled to Canberra this morning, and are asking to meet with the CEO of Australian Pork Limited, after she expressed confusion over footage which shows pigs screaming and thrashing inside "best practice" carbon dioxide gas chambers.
• Director of Farm Transparency Project, Chris Delforce, hid himself inside one of the gas chambers featured, to capture first-hand what happens to pigs inside. He says that APL have shown a “disgusting unwillingness” to take responsibility for the horrific scenes which he states depict “the norm of how pigs react to this abhorrent industry practice.”
• “The industry’s peak body has asked for more footage to better understand the context of it - so we’ve brought them a hard drive with several full days of it. They are refusing to spend five minutes looking at it.”

At 11:30am this morning, Farm Transparency Project’s (FTP) investigative team entered the head office building of Australian Pork Limited (APL), in Canberra ACT, joined by a group of concerned citizens who wished to express their responses to watching the footage and their disappointment over the lack of accountability taken by APL.

They are peacefully sitting outside the office door, waiting until they are granted a meeting with APL's CEO and an acknowledgement that the footage, which the group has brought to the offices on a hard drive, represents a serious, urgent and systemic problem in their industry. So far, staff have refused entry to the group.

Earlier this year, FTP’s investigators installed hidden cameras in Victoria’s three largest pig slaughterhouses, and hid an investigator inside one of the facility’s gas chambers overnight to film pigs inside the chamber firsthand. The footage was published in a damning exposé last Monday night on ABC’s 7.30 program.

APL’s CEO, Margo Andrae, has publicly stated in response to the revelations of extreme cruelty, that she “would need to see all the footage gathered to understand it in context… what’s happening there and what that looks like. We have to understand… what was happening in that footage, which we have not been able to do.”

FTP Director Chris Delforce: “It's disappointing and pretty concerning that the head of this industry doesn't know what's happening inside these gas chambers, yet is still advocating for them. We're here to give her the footage she’s asked for, and to talk her through it and help her to understand what she's looking at.”

“These industries rely on secrecy in order to operate. It says something that in order to see what actually happens inside these facilities people like me have to break the law and put our lives at risk.”

"What happens to animals used for food in this country is a matter of great public concern and interest. The fact that Australian Pork initially refused to be interviewed or answer questions from ABC’s 7.30, and then went on to question the validity of our extensively verified footage after it aired, shows that they are completely unwilling to own up to their actions. If they’re going to keep engaging in this horrific practice, they could at least have the spine to take responsibility for it.”

“All footage was captured between January and March this year, at the Diamond Valley Pork slaughterhouse in Laverton, the Australian Food Group slaughterhouse in Laverton, and the Benalla slaughterhouse. The footage is timestamped and we've shared plenty of behind-the-scenes evidence verifying the locations."

"Unlike the pork industry, we have nothing to hide. We've got days worth of video of pigs screaming, gasping and thrashing, all of which we’ve brought into the industry’s head office today, so they cannot continue to claim that they don’t have the full picture. We'd like  to discuss this publicly so that consumers can make up their own minds about whether this industry’s products and practices are something they want to support.”

Protestors stage peaceful 'die-in' at Coles and Woolworths, after confirmation that both supermarket giants source pork from Victorian abattoirs depicted in “horrific” gassing footage
Sunday 2 April

Animal advocates have entered two supermarkets near Flinders street station and staged a ‘die-in’ while showing recent footage from inside the gas chambers of Victorian slaughterhouses. The action happens just days after it was confirmed that both Coles and Woolworths are supplied by abattoirs which use controversial carbon dioxide gas chambers to paralyse pigs prior to slitting their throats. 

Woolworths is supplied by both the Diamond Valley Pork and Australian Food Group slaughterhouses, while Coles is supplied by Diamond Valley Pork. Diamond Valley Pork is the largest pig slaughterhouse in Victoria, supplying 20% of the National supply. Australian Food Group slaughterhouse is where Delforce hid himself above the gas chamber for almost 10 hours to capture first hand footage of pigs being gassed inside the carbon dioxide chamber. 

Chris Delforce, our investigator who hid above the gas chamber at one of the facilities for over 9 hours to film the process, says that the supermarkets "have a responsibility to be open and honest about the horrific cruelty in their supply chains, so that people can make an informed choice between buying pork, ham and bacon products, knowing they’re funding such cruelty, or the great plant-based alternatives available."

“We are targeting supermarkets who sell pork products from pigs killed inside Co2 gas chambers, like the ones used at Victoria's three largest slaughterhouses. Most pigs are killed inside gas chambers yet most consumers and members of the public find them horrific and unthinkable. How can our biggest supermarket chains continue to support this barbaric practice?”

The actions today are part of a ‘week of action’ to raise awareness about the use of gas chambers in Australian slaughterhouses and to promote the film Dominion which was released five years ago and shows the reality of Australian farming and slaughter. The group says that all actions taken during this week will be peaceful and non-violent and that the public should not be worried about being targeted.

“Our problem lies with the industries that continue to ignore a public demand for a kinder world for animals and our government for allowing their secrecy and funding their cruelty rather than investing in more compassionate options. We are sharing this footage with the public because we believe that most Australians have an interest in knowing what these industries seek to keep hidden about how they truly treat animals and what they mean when they use words such as ‘humane.’”

Animal Rights Activists Plan ‘Week of Action’ in Melbourne
Saturday 1 April

Animal rights activists led by the group Farm Transparency project plan ‘week of action’ in Melbourne, starting tomorrow. The organisation behind the documentary Dominion and the notorious Aussie farms map which shares the location of farms and slaughterhouses across Australia, have announced their intention to undertake a week of nonviolent outreach events in Melbourne this week, to recognise the five-year anniversary of the release of Dominion. The documentary, released in March 2018, uses hidden and handheld cameras as well as undercover footage and aerial drone shots to reveal the reality of Australian farming and slaughter operations. 

In a statement, founding director of Farm Transparency Project and writer and director of Dominion, Chris Delforce said that the week of action was intended to draw attention to the fact that, five years on from the film's release, nothing has changed.

“When we released Dominion there was widespread public outrage and condemnation of both the facilities shown in the film and the standard industry practices depicted. Yet despite consumer demands to know more about what the animal agriculture industry is doing to address significant and systemic animal cruelty, there is still the same lack of transparency and honesty that led us to produce Dominion in the first place. We want to make sure these industries know they cannot operate in secrecy and that animal welfare is an area of significant public interest that people will take action on.”

The week of action is building up to the Dominion Animal Rights March on Saturday April 8th which the group claims will be the biggest animal rights March in Australia since their previous march in 2018.