• 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 two-year legal dispute seeking to block Farm Transparency Project (FTP) from publishing footage of the slaughter of goats, obtained during a covert investigation in early 2024. 

The case was initially heard before the Federal Court in August 2024, who decided against the Game Meats Company, refusing to grant an injunction against Farm Transparency Project to permanently suppress the publication of the footage. The slaughterhouse appealed, leading to the decision being overturned by the full court of the Federal Court, who ordered that the footage of goat slaughter be destroyed. 

In December, FTP was granted special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia to challenge the injunction. The case will be heard later this year. 

Some of the protestors gathered outside the slaughterhouse are holding signs with artist depictions of what was captured in the footage, which FTP claims includes daily acts of animal cruelty, with many goats still showing signs of consciousness when they are killed. On their social media, FTP states that "these artworks were created based on descriptions from those who have seen the footage, as well as reference images from other slaughterhouses that we have investigated. At no point were stills or footage from GMC viewed by the artists."

FTP's Executive Director, Chris Delforce, says about the protest:

"As we prepare to fight this case in the High Court, we want to bring attention back to the real victims of the continued efforts by the Game Meats Company to block this footage from being seen by the public. Each week, thousands of goats are killed inside this slaughterhouse, yet they have shown they are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop people from seeing how they are killed, no matter the broader cost to press freedoms."

Photos from the protest: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/3v56ttl6sb89aygr4tdvn/AE9KW3IJO4n9YuSCgr4N0UI?rlkey=r2fg732e7zjobd32nh07j1ust&dl=0 

More information and artwork: https://www.farmtransparency.org/campaigns/right-know-game-meats-cruelty-case