Meat and Livestock Australia threaten legal action over video of lamb slaughterhouse cruelty

The company behind the latest controversial Australia Day advertisement "Operation Boomerang", encouraging Australians to eat lamb, has threatened legal action if a video posted online showing cruelty to lambs in a Victorian slaughterhouse is not swiftly removed.

The video, posted by animal rights group Aussie Farms on Tuesday morning, is presented as a "Behind the Scenes" clip of the ad, featuring 7 seconds of the original followed by recent footage from inside the Gathercoles slaughterhouse in Wangaratta, Victoria, where young sheep are seen being killed without adequate stunning.

Executive Director of Aussie Farms, Chris Delforce, said, "This is a common occurrence in Australian slaughterhouses due to the high kill rate required to meet demand – inevitably some will slip through who have not been stunned. Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) are clearly embarrassed by this video, which has been seen by over 15,000 people in just 3 days. They've responded to criticism of their ad's racial insensitivity and violence by saying people just need to get a sense of humour – but now with more and more seeing what eating lamb really means, I guess their own sense of humour's expired?"

"They're demanding I take it offline immediately, citing copyright infringement, but of course it falls squarely within the definition of Fair Use. So instead of taking it down, I've launched an urgent fundraising appeal to boost the video's reach on social media in the lead-up to Australia Day. If their ad is anything to go by, I can probably expect they'll be coming to burn my house down now."

The video can be viewed at www.aussiefarms.org.au/australia-day. Media enquiries: [email protected]