On Tuesday, 10th of March, our team arrives at the border crossing in Koroszczyn to provide a training for border vets on the Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 in the context of  live exports. The Polish border is of strategic importance, as it is an exit/entry point from and into the EU. The audience for the training is selected by the Chief…

Our team is inspecting the cattle market in Bodzentyn. We estimate that there are about 300 animals on the market today. Like during our last inspections, most of the animals that are sold on the market are calves. We speculate that the farmers try to get subsidies for animal ownership from the government which is starting in May.  

We only notice…

We meet informant Kathrin (name changed), who wishes to remain anonymous. She tells us the story of how a woman acted as a front to obtain her two yearlings Peach and Archie by deception for a kill buyer.

Due to health problems, Kathrin decided to rehome her yearlings Peach and Archie to a good new home. A woman in Queensland had promised to look…

Our team receives footage and an analysis of an undercover investigation at the Meramist abattoir. Today we meet with an informant who must remain anonymous for safety reasons. Covert cameras recorded the activities at the Meramist abattoir on 22 randomly selected slaughter days over a period of two years. Up to eight cameras documented the passage…

In a small town in New South Wales, we meet Margaret, who has been investigating about the slaughter horse trade for a long time. She explains our team members that the current system of traceability for slaughter horses in Australia is unreliable, because it relies exclusively on the honesty of the owners and kill buyers. Margaret has previously…

Today our team meets Elio Celotto at the entrance of the Meramist abattoir. He is the director of the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR).

We ask Elio about the traceability system for horses in Australia. Elio explains that the only traceable horses are thoroughbred racehorses. Their traceability, however, is only guaranteed from the…

It is our second investigation day at Meramist abattoir. When our team arrives at 6:45 a.m., a truck with horses is already waiting at the unloading ramp. It belongs to kill buyer Les Evans. A leather whip is used to unload the horses. We detect a sick white gelding that cannot walk normally. He should have been deemed unfit for transport according…

We observe the Meramist abattoir on the day before the horses are slaughtered. Throughout the day, horses are being delivered. They are crammed together in open cattle trucks, which are inappropriate for the transport of horses. They are stressed, and therefore frequently biting each other. The unloading process at Meramist abattoir is…

Kill buyer Brian Munro is the biggest supplier of horses to the Meramist abattoir from Queensland. When we arrive at his assembly centre at 9 a.m., a truck is already parked at the loading ramp. The workers are busy rounding up horses in a paddock behind the buildings. Once the horses are in the pen area, we observe that the workers separate the…