UNCOVER THE TRUTH:
The impact on animals
At any time there are around 25 million cows in Australia. More than a million of these cows are confined to factory farms called feedlots. The rest take up more than half of the continent, where land is often cleared to make way for grazing.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of cows will die from disease, mismanagement, or because they are deemed less profitable. Around 8.5 million will be slaughtered. Another 1.2 million will be sent off on live export ships - mostly destined for slaughter overseas, where animal welfare laws are poor or non-existent.
Did you know?
-
In Australia, cows are often subjected to multiple painful procedures. They are castrated, dehorned and branded with a hot iron. The majority of the industry do not regularly use pain relief.
-
Many will become victims of droughts, floods or bushfires, and many more will die of injury, disease or starvation.
-
Cows deemed less profitable may be "culled”, or left to die slow and painful deaths.
Each one of these bovines is an individual - an intelligent, sentient animal that suffered through much of his or her life, and death.
Valued by industry and government only for the financial value they can bring, they are born to die.
UNCOVER THE TRUTH:
The impact on environment
The beef industry is also a major cause of environmental destruction and climate change. Because beef production dominates more than half the Australian continent, it has a major impact of any industry on our ecosystems, and is the one of the greatest threat to our wildlife and biodiversity.
If the beef industry was forced to pay for the environmental damage it causes, and if government subsidies and handouts were removed, it would quickly become unviable.
A study by Trucost for TEEB estimated that if the cost of this environmental damage was reflected in the cost of beef, beef prices would need to increase by 500%.
Did you know?
-
Australia is listed as a global deforestation front by the WWF - the only developed nation on the list.
-
Queensland leads the pack, clearing 400,000 hectares per year. Over 90% of land clearing over the last three decades in Queensland is for grazing.
-
The industry is responsible for soil degradation and has a major impact on the Great Barrier Reef.
THE SOLUTION:
As a nation, we currently have a powerful opportunity to shift support away from the destructive beef industry, and instead invest in more ethical and sustainable industries.
Australia is well placed to become a leader in the rapidly growing alternative meat market, predicted to be worth US$290 billion globally by 2035.
-
Imagine a world where billions of innocent animals don’t needlessly suffer, just to be slaughtered for their meat.
-
Picture a place where ‘livestock’ farmers and meat workers have moved to more sustainable jobs and are not victims of poor working conditions.
-
Envision a future where we avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change, where we free up much of the continent for trees and wildlife.
