Sickening CCTV Footage From an Australian Abattoir Leaked

Posted on by Laura Weyman-Jones

It was Paul McCartney who said, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.”


Leaked CCTV footage showing the inner workings of Gathercole’s Carrum Downs abattoir in a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne demonstrates exactly what McCartney meant.

The footage – believed to be recorded by the company’s own CCTV cameras in January 2018– shows gentle sheep being punched and roughly handled before their throats were slit while they were fully conscious. Workers sometimes cut through sheep’s necks entirely, throwing around their bleeding, severed heads or drop-kicking them like footballs.

Sheep were dragged through blood and left to endure slow, lingering deaths in front of other frightened members of their flock.

The authorities must identify and charge the sick individuals responsible for the suffering of these sensitive, intelligent animals.

Australia’s ‘Humane’ Myth

Anyone with an ounce of humanity will feel physically sick when confronted with the violence uncovered at Gathercole’s abattoir.

Gathercole is one of the largest suppliers of lamb, beef, and pork in Australiaand also sells lambs’ and sheep’s skins. 

If you eat meat, there really is no way of knowing how the animal it came from was treated. The lambs and sheep you see in this video have likely already made their way onto plates across Australia.


Labels such as “humane”, “grass-fed”, and “locally produced” cannot protect animals from this cruelty. The only way to prevent violence towards animals is to refuse to eat their chopped-up body parts.


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