Photos: PETA ‘Sheep’ Sails on Canberra Waters in Live-Export Protest
30 November 2022
‘Lucy’ Wades Into Iconic Lake to Demand an End to All Live-Animal Export
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory – Today, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA) sheep mascot protested live export near Parliament House by “sailing” out onto the waters of Lake Burley Griffin in the centre of Canberra while brandishing a sign reading, “Ban ALL Live Exports NOW”.
“Lucy the Live-Export Sheep”, who previously followed former PM Scott Morrison around on the campaign trail, waded into the fountain before rowing out in a silent protest aimed at the Albanese government, whose plans to phase out live exports only for sheep and not until at least a second term in office have been criticised by PETA for not going far enough.
“Animals have suffered aboard live-export vessels for decades, and a complete ban on the cruel industry – for all animals – is shamefully overdue,” says PETA’s Emily Rice. “Every single day that the government continues to allow the live export of any animal, it condones the immense suffering of hundreds of thousands of individuals while contributing to the climate catastrophe and increasing the risk of spreading zoonotic diseases.”
This time last year, PETA released investigation footage from abattoirs slaughtering Australian cattle in Indonesia, which revealed steers and bulls being forced into restraint boxes and shot in the head with captive-bolt guns. The animals were often aware of what was happening to them – they slammed their bodies against the metal chute they were trapped in in futile attempts to turn around and escape.
Workers repeatedly failed to stun cows adequately. Clearly still conscious after being shot in the head, one steer was jabbed 64 times in the face and on his torso with a steel rod in an attempt to force him to stand back up so that a worker could shoot him again. For some animals, stunning wasn’t even attempted, and some were merely physically restrained before their throats were slit.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – notes that Indonesia, where the current outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease originated, is Australia’s largest live-export market for cattle and that the skins of exported cows are often sold back to Australians as leather.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.au.
