Lockdown the slaughterhouses
Announcement posted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia 07 Jul 2020
Dear Editor,
Victoria is again on stage-three lockdown, state borders are closed, and COVID-19 news is again accompanied by pictures of slaughterhouses.
Two workers have tested positive at JBS abattoir in Brooklyn and Pacific Meats abattoir in Thomastown, while hundreds of others are being tested now. This follows the closure in April of Cedar Meats, which was the centre of a cluster of over one hundred cases of COVID-19.
Slaughterhouses are toxic for the humans who work there and the animals who suffer and die there. But they are ideal for viruses, since people work in close proximity and social distancing is not possible. In Australia, the injury and illness rate for workers in the meat industry is four times the national average, since staff are often forced to work at reckless speeds to maximise production.
Australian abattoirs and factory farms are every bit as filthy as the wet market in China where the coronavirus is believed to have originated. A colossal 75% of recently emerging infectious diseases affecting humans are transmitted from other animals.
Going vegan is the best way to protect workers, prevent future pandemics, and spare animals from needless suffering.
Desmond Bellamy
Special Projects Coordinator
PETA Australia
PO Box 2352
Byron Bay NSW 2481
0411 577 416
DesmondB@PETA.org.au
Victoria is again on stage-three lockdown, state borders are closed, and COVID-19 news is again accompanied by pictures of slaughterhouses.
Two workers have tested positive at JBS abattoir in Brooklyn and Pacific Meats abattoir in Thomastown, while hundreds of others are being tested now. This follows the closure in April of Cedar Meats, which was the centre of a cluster of over one hundred cases of COVID-19.
Slaughterhouses are toxic for the humans who work there and the animals who suffer and die there. But they are ideal for viruses, since people work in close proximity and social distancing is not possible. In Australia, the injury and illness rate for workers in the meat industry is four times the national average, since staff are often forced to work at reckless speeds to maximise production.
Australian abattoirs and factory farms are every bit as filthy as the wet market in China where the coronavirus is believed to have originated. A colossal 75% of recently emerging infectious diseases affecting humans are transmitted from other animals.
Going vegan is the best way to protect workers, prevent future pandemics, and spare animals from needless suffering.
Desmond Bellamy
Special Projects Coordinator
PETA Australia
PO Box 2352
Byron Bay NSW 2481
0411 577 416
DesmondB@PETA.org.au