• Hidden camera footage showing the ‘shocking' treatment of animals at a major Melbourne slaughterhouse has been released by animal advocacy group Farm Transparency Project.
• The footage, which was captured in June this year, depicts workers writing and drawing on the bodies of sheep and goats with blood, animals appearing to have their throats slit while fully conscious, goats and sheep struggling while soaked in the blood of others and even one mother goat giving birth in the stunning restraint, seconds before her throat is slit.
• The footage was captured at Cedar Meats, which has been rocked by scandals over the last five years, including being previously investigated for animal cruelty (2019) and worker safety breaches (2021). It was also the location of the largest cluster of COVID-19 cases in Victoria during the first wave of the pandemic. 

View photos and footage: www.farmtransparency.org/facilities/f597a-cedar-meats 

Beleaguered Melbourne slaughterhouse, Cedar Meats, is under fire again after new hidden camera footage captures brutal and shocking treatment of sheep, goats and bobby calves by workers at the facility. 

The footage, which was filmed using hidden cameras installed by animal advocacy group Farm Transparency Project, shows one worker writing their name on the body of a dying sheep in blood, as well as other workers rubbing blood into the face of a sheep and making bloody handprints on the body of a goat. One worker is seen to cut into the face of a sheep and stick their hand inside their mouth, while another appears to eat part of a sheep carcass while standing on the kill floor. 

Animals have their throats slit while still awake and aware, with some falling off the shackle line and continuing to struggle as others are killed above them. One mother goat gives birth in the stunning restraint. Workers are observed lifting up her tail, noticing the newborn and then continuing to electrocute her before pushing her and the infant goat into the kill room where the mother’s throat is slit. The cameras reveal that newborn goats and lambs are killed using a bolt gun, a method which is often ineffective, leading to some infants continuing to suffer for up to seven hours after they have been shot. 

Harley McDonald-Eckersall, a spokesperson for Farm Transparency Project, says that the footage was deeply disturbing yet sadly expected. 

“I wish that I could say that the footage we captured at Cedar Meats was an aberration and a one off instance of cruelty by these workers. Sadly though, these scenes represent the standard level of violence, brutality and disregard for the suffering of animals  that we see in slaughterhouses across Australia. Cedar Meats is the 19th slaughterhouse we have captured footage at since January last year and it is the 19th one which we have reported for illegal activity and breaches of state and federal legislation. This is not a case of one bad apple, this is the shocking, sickening standard that has been accepted as how we treat animals in this country.” 

Ms McDonald-Eckersall says that FTP has chosen to release the footage slowly over the next month, given the amount of mistreatment that they captured and the different species killed at the slaughterhouse. 

“Today we have released a small sample of the footage we will be sharing over the next month, showing the slaughter of sheep, goats, bobby calves and infant goats and sheep. We’re choosing to release this footage slowly given the sheer amount of suffering we captured across all species, as well as the sickening behaviour of workers.”

Cedar Meats has been rocked by scandals over the last five years since it was investigated for animal cruelty in 2019 by Animal Liberation. In 2020 it was the site of the largest coronavirus outbreak in Victoria during the first wave of the pandemic, with 110 cases being reported as connected to the facility. Additionally, it has been embroiled in multiple debt disputes as well as workcover claims. In 2021 they were forced to pay $15,000 after a worker crushed her arm while cleaning machinery, leading to permanent injuries.