Game Meats Company Slaughterhouse
| Name: | Game Meats Company Slaughterhouse |
| Address: | 319 Hughes Lane, Eurobin VIC 3739, Australia |
| LGA/Council: |
Alpine Shire Council Council website: alpineshire.vic.gov.au
Council email: [email protected] Council phone: (03) 5755Â 0555 |
| Summary: | Game Meats Company Slaughterhouse is a slaughterhouse located in Eurobin, VIC Australia. |
| Categories: | |
| Species: | |
| Last known status: | Open and operating |
| Listing updated: | 2026 |
| Listing ID: | e9ec9 |
| Website: | http://thegamemeatscompany.com.au |
| Owned by: | The Game Meats Company of Australia Pty Ltd, ABN: 84 095 440 823 |
| View on map: |
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Slaughterhouse
Goats
Deer
EmusAn export-accredited, multi-species slaughterhouse in Eurobin, north-eastern Victoria. Hidden camera footage published by Farm Transparency Project in early 2024 reveals the brutal stunning and slaughter of hundreds of goats. Animals in the footage are seen jumping free of the restraint used to immobilise them before stunning and escaping into the kill room, where other goats are having their throats slit. Several goats show clear signs of consciousness, including blinking, lifting their heads and crying out, even while their throats are being slit and their heads and hooves removed.
Also captured is the slaughter of newborn goats, who are painfully electrocuted after being left in a plastic bucket for hours. One baby goat is captured crying out in pain for over two hours after an unsuccessful stunning attempt left them partially paralysed.
The slaughterhouse also sporadically kills deer, and has in the past killed emus and ostriches.
The footage included:
- 5 days of the restraint and stunning process in operation (29-31 January, 5-6 February 2024). Serious breaches of animal welfare legislation were identified on at least 3 of these days.
- 4 days of the 'sticking' (killing) area in operation (8-11 April 2024). Serious breaches of animal welfare legislation were identified on all 4 of these days.
- 5 days of the baby goat stunning room in operation (31 January, 1 February, 9-11 April 2024). Serious breaches of animal welfare legislation were identified on all 5 of these days.
A brief 14-minute sample of breaches was sent as part of a formal complaint by Farm Transparency Project, to the federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) in early May 2024. We requested a mailing address to which we could send the complete footage. No response was received.
Two weeks later, on 17 May 2024, we published over an hour of the footage on our website, including the 14 minute sample and 7 additional compilations. Shortly afterwards, we received notice of an injunction granted in secret that day by the Federal Court, forcing us to take down the footage or go to prison. Through court proceedings, it was revealed that instead of investigating the complaint, DAFF employee Jason Ollington quietly forwarded it to the slaughterhouse and warned them about potential media coverage, giving them time to seek the injunction. It was further revealed that the On-Plant Veterinarian, Dr Karl Texler, a DAFF employee posted at the slaughterhouse whose role involved enforcing animal welfare compliance, failed to report any breaches of animal welfare legislation despite such breaches being captured almost every day that our cameras were installed.
As of March 2025, DAFF has refused to review the entirety of breaches identified at the Game Meats Company slaughterhouse, and has made seemingly no effort to prosecute the owners, management or staff of the facility. As far as we are aware, Jason Ollington and Karl Texler remain employed by DAFF despite the significant concerns of corruption raised through the court case.
In submissions to the court, barrister for the Game Meats Company, Paul Hayes, deliberately misled the court by claiming that the footage covered a period of "weeks and months" in which "52,800 goats" were slaughtered, and that the 14 minute sample comprised the entirety of illegal behaviour and cruelty uncovered. This is the number of goats slaughtered between the time the first camera was installed, on 29 January, and when the last camera was removed, on 11 April, when in reality the cameras were only installed for a handful of days between these dates.
In searching for witnesses who could speak to the kind of cruelty our cameras had captured, we found that locals were scared to speak out against the slaughterhouse, for fear of violent reprisal towards them or their animals, and rumoured connections to organised crime.
Throughout the trial, it was repeatedly stressed by representatives of the Game Meats Company slaughterhouse that if this footage of their actions was to see the light of day, it could be extremely damaging for their reputation and profits, and that a permanent injunction was essential in order to protect them from any consequences of this cruel and illegal conduct.
In its decision handed down in late December 2024, the court refused to grant the injunction. The slaughterhouse appealed the decision, and in the appeal judgment delivered in August 2025, it was granted a permanent injunction on the basis of copyright ownership - a chilling new precedent with wide-reaching consequences for press freedom and public awareness. We are now appealing to the High Court, who will make the final determination on whether this footage will ever see the light of day.
To help us continue fighting for the goats who suffered at this slaughterhouse, please consider donating to our crowdfunding campaign.
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... Act now >
Photos (146)
Videos (8)
Documents (8)
Advocacy materials (0)
News (30)
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High Court to decide if copyright law can silence whistleblowers
Thursday 14 May 2026 by
The Human Rights Law Centre and Alliance for Journalists' Freedom have become involved in a High Court case over undercover footage filmed inside a Victorian slaughterhouse. Read more >
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The copyright fight that could chill investigative reporting
Monday 11 May 2026 by
A landmark High Court case is testing whether the subject of covertly filmed footage can claim copyright and use it to block publication. The decision could reshape public interest journalism, writes Professor Peter Greste. Read more >
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Animal activists' court battle and its implications for press freedom
Saturday 9 May 2026 by
Minutes after midnight one day in early January 2024, three people crept into an abattoir in Eurobin, midway between Myrtleford and Bright in regional Victoria. The trio, associated with animal rights group Farm Transparency Project, installed covert video recorders to capture footage of goats being slaughtered for export. Obviously enough, they did so without the knowledge or permission of the abattoir owners, the Game Meats Company (GMC). Read more >
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2700 animal welfare breaches lost in red tape
Wednesday 6 May 2026 by
Export abattoirs have generated 2700 animal welfare incident reports in four years, but bureaucratic confusion between state and federal authorities has left investigation outcomes unclear. Read more >
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Goat slaughter footage could hold key to press freedom | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT
Tuesday 5 May 2026 by
The ownership of footage of slaughtered goats may affect future press freedom in Australia, whistleblower advocates say, as the case heads to the High Court. The odd set of events has come about due to a novel legal strategy employed by a Victorian abattoir, accused of mistreating animals. In 2024, animal welfare activists Farm Transparency trespassed onto Game Meats Company property to take footage of what they alleged were cruel practices. Read more >
Media releases by FTP (13)
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Dozens converge on High Court for finalé of slaughterhouse footage saga
Tuesday 5 May 2026
Over 60 people joined animal rights media organisation Farm Transparency Project (FTP) in Canberra today for a hearing before the High Court of Australia, to determine the fate of censored slaughterhouse footage. Today's hearing is the final legal showdown in a case that has stretched for over two years. The outcome will determine whether or not FTP will be able to publish hours of footage of animal cruelty, captured inside the Eurobin facility of the Game Meats Company in 2024. The footage is currently under injunction after a Federal Court appeal overturned an initial judgement and granted a gag order on the... Read more >
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Next Tuesday: High Court to hear slaughterhouse cruelty / press freedom case
Tuesday 28 Apr 2026
The final hearing in the two-year battle between an animal protection organisation and the Victorian slaughterhouse it caught illegally abusing goats, will take place in the High Court in Canberra next week, Tuesday 5 May. Footage captured covertly by Farm Transparency Project (FTP) over approximately ten days in early 2024, revealing daily breaches of animal welfare legislation at the Game Meats Company slaughterhouse in Eurobin, Victoria, was reported to the federal Department of Agriculture on 3 May 2024. Rather than investigating the complaint, the department tipped off the slaughterhouse management, leading to a court-ordered injunction blocking publication of the footage. Hours-worth of videos... Read more >
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DAFF admits to breaching privacy in ongoing slaughterhouse cruelty case
Tuesday 3 Mar 2026
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has admitted to breaching the Privacy Act in their handling of an animal cruelty complaint in February 2024. The Department was found to have disclosed personal information of a witness to animal cruelty, to the subject of an animal cruelty complaint, after a director of Farm Transparency Project made a formal complaint about practices at the Game Meats Company slaughterhouse. After a complaint and investigation by the Department's privacy officer, DAFF admitted to breaching the Privacy Act in their handling of sensitive, protected information, however decided that no further action was required... Read more >
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Protest at north-east Victorian slaughterhouse as High Court challenge looms
Monday 2 Feb 2026
Protestors from animal protection organisation Farm Transparency Project today gathered outside the Game Meats Company slaughterhouse in Eurobin, Victoria. The protest comes as the slaughterhouse and FTP prepare to face off in the High Court over the publication of footage captured by FTP during a covert investigation in 2024. Around a dozen protestors built a memorial at the gates of the slaughterhouse, remembering the thousands of goats killed inside. Animal protection activists today protested the slaughter of goats at a Game Meats Company slaughterhouse in the north-east Victorian town of Eurobin. The slaughterhouse has been at the centre of a... Read more >
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High Court to hear appeal over Victorian slaughterhouse cruelty footage
Thursday 4 Dec 2025
The High Court of Australia has today granted Farm Transparency Project (FTP) special leave to appeal a decision by the full court of the Federal Court, which awarded the Game Meats Company (GMC) slaughterhouse copyright over footage captured by FTP while trespassing in early 2024. Approximately one in twenty special leave applications are granted. The High Court will be the final arbiters on this case, with the outcome setting a binding precedent for future animal cruelty investigations in Australia. FTP will argue that the footage, which shows numerous instances of animal cruelty in breach of welfare requirements, as well as... Read more >
ABN Lookup
| ABN | 84 095 440 823 (open lookup) |
| Entity name | THE GAME MEATS COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA PTY LTD |
| ABN status | Active from 20 March 2001 |
| Entity type | Australian Private Company |
| Goods & Services Tax (GST) | Registered from 01 April 2001 |
| Main business location |
VIC 3739 from 01 November 2007 VIC 3738 from 20 March 2001 to 01 November 2007 |
| ABN last updated | 03 November 2007 |
| Extracted from ABR | 17 May 2026 |
Nearby facilities (1)
Facilities within a 5km radius.
