Snowtown Abattoir
Snowtown slaughterhouse, located in Snowtown, South Australia, kills goats, sheep and cows/cattle. The sixth slaughterhouse exposed as part of our Shut Down Slaughterhouses campaign.
Crowded into a small room, goats and sheep are dragged one at a time onto the kill platform, where their throats are brutally cut open without any attempt at stunning. While this slaughterhouse is one of only a handful in Australia that have an exemption to 'stick' without prior stunning for halal meat, they are required to ensure unconsciousness before shackling by stunning immediately after sticking, which is not occurring.
Despite these blatant contraventions of the Animal Welfare Act, reported to the South Australian government in July 2023, we received confirmation in December 2024 that no charges would be laid against the owners or staff of the facility and that it would be continuing its operations without significant changes.
TAKE ACTION:
Please contact Vic Gaffney, the Senior Investigator and Compliance Officer at the Department of Environment and Water, and demand the immediate closure of the facility, prosecution of its owners and staff, and Mr Gaffney’s resignation:
Email: [email protected] (CC: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
Phone: (08) 8463 7938
Mobile: 0472 576 562
A previous investigation in 2017 was featured in our 2018 documentary Dominion, and then published separately by Animal Liberation:
- Goats freezing to death overnight in the outer holding pens
- Goats picked off in front of each other with a bolt gun in a small, confined room, many screaming in fear
- Sheep killed while partly or fully conscious
- Cows shot multiple times with a rifle as they try to escape the knockbox
- Pigs reluctant to enter the knockbox, stunned and sometimes cut in front of each other, writhing and thrashing violently on the floor as they bleed out, their heads then partly severed before a hook is used to drag them across the room to a bathtub used as a makeshift scalding tank
- Children working the kill floor, one playing with a hanging pig’s head as a toy
Campaigns (2)
Take action (1)
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EMAIL: Help us shut down slaughterhouses
Across 2023 and 2024, our team documented and filmed conditions at 30 slaughterhouses across fjve states in Australia, the largest investigation into animal slaughter in the countries history. We exposed systemic suffering and abuse in over 10% of Australia's animal slaughter facilities, revealing the reality which is hidden by labels such as 'humane,' and 'high welfare.' Through thousands of hours of footage from hidden cameras, we showed that no animal goes to their death calmly or willingly; there is always pain, there is always fear and there is always suffering. The mass slaughter of intelligent, sentient animals has no place within our... Act now >
Photos (174)
Videos (22)
Documents (0)
Campaign materials (0)
News (4)
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Hidden camera footage from Snowtown Abattoir shows goats, sheep killed without stunning
Thursday 12 Dec 2024 by
The Environment Minister called the videos ‘confronting’, but animal welfare authorities said their hands are tied because of a legal loophole. Read more >
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Bear's Story
Monday 29 Jan 2024 by
Sometimes out of the darkest of places come stories of hope. But our time at Snowtown had no happy endings. On our final night investigating the slaughterhouse, we found a newborn goat in the holding pens, crying out for help. We couldn’t leave her behind and took her home with us. We did her best to save her and found her a loving home at a sanctuary. But, the freezing cold was too much for her tiny body and, two days later, our little Bear died. This is her story and, despite its ending, w Read more >
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Hidden cameras capture harrowing footage of alleged animal cruelty at Snowtown Abattoir
Friday 25 Aug 2023 by
Hidden cameras have captured what an animal activist group claims to be the unethical slaughter of cows, goats and sheep at a regional SA slaughterhouse. Warning: Graphic. Read more >
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The grim moment two teenage slaughterhouse workers play swing ball with a pig's head on a chain after watching it writhe in agony as it bleeds to death
Tuesday 18 Sep 2018 by
Two young slaughterhouse workers were captured playing swing ball with a decapitated pigs head attached to a chain, after watching it writhe in agony as it endured a slow death. Read more >
Media releases by FTP (2)
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SA government refuses to prosecute illegal slaughterhouse
Monday 9 Dec 2024
The South Australian government has confirmed to animal protection organisation Farm Transparency Project (FTP) that it will not be prosecuting the illegally operating slaughterhouse in Snowtown. The Snowtown Meat Service abattoir, 150km north of Adelaide, was formally reported in July 2023, after hidden cameras placed inside the facility by FTP revealed a complete absence of 'stunning' for goats and sheep, in clear violation of the Animal Welfare Act. Animals are pinned down and their throats cut while fully conscious, before they are shackled and left to slowly bleed out. While the facility has an exemption permitting them to 'stick'... Read more >
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Animal activists vow to break into and expose 30 slaughterhouses over two years to force industry transparency
Monday 10 Jul 2023
Animal advocate Chris Delforce has today announced that his organisation, Farm Transparency Project, plans to break into 30 slaughterhouses over the next two years, to capture and expose footage of Australian animal slaughter to the public. Delforce, who earlier this year shared groundbreaking new footage of pigs being gassed to death in Victorian slaughterhouses after hiding in a gas chamber, stated that his organisation has already investigated six slaughterhouses this year, and will be releasing a new investigation this week. Footage from three new Australian slaughterhouses is promised over the next few weeks, with Delforce sharing that Farm Transparency Project has... Read more >
