This is what the Bourke slaughterhouse (abattoir) looks like from the outside. The slaughterhouse is situated in outback New South Wales, Australia. They have killed many animals here over the years, including cows, sheep and horses. When I went there, they were killing wild goats.
The goats are held in 'the holding yards' before they are killed. These goats were tired and frightened. Many of them were in bad physical condition, limping and starving. Some had broken horns.
This is the manager of the slaughterhouse. He is looking at the frightened goats in the holding yards. He kills goats and other animals to make a profit $$$$. What kind of a person do you think would do this? Could you do this?
The goats are held in the holding yards at ground level.
Then they are forced to walk up this big ramp to 'the killing box' which is at the top.
These are some of the goats that I saw on their way to their deaths. The workers in the killing box at the top are waiting for them. The goats are terrified. They do not want to go up, because they can smell the blood of the other goats who are being killed.
This is one of the workers (above) forcing the goats to go up the ramp towards the killing box. There are two men in the killing box. They stick a knife into the goat's throat and twist it.
Then they drag it back hard, to cut it open. I heard one of the goats screaming and screaming. It sounded like a child.
In this photograph, one of the goats is looking at me. This goat, along with all the others pictured here, died horrible deaths. I was sad because I could not save them.
The goats' heads were being thrown out by the men up in the killing box. They landed into the back of this trailer below. A lot of the heads were lying in the grass, with the eyes still in them looking out. The foam building up beneath the tyres of this trailer is made up of goats' blood and water.
This worker is outside cleaning up goats' hair and water with a shovel, that comes down a drain from inside the slaughterhouse.
This is the manager standing outside the Bourke slaughterhouse. It look harmless from the outside.
This is the kind of coat that is worn due to regulations on hygiene. Most of the workers clothes were covered in blood.
This is a goat's body hung up by one leg, just after it has had its had chopped off
The workers stir up to 8 goats' bodies in a tub of boiling water with paddles. This removes the goats' hair.
They cut the bodies of the goats open on this table.
Then the goats' bodies are strung up and go through a series of processes. Inside the slaughterhouse it stank of goat's blood and guts
The floors were wet and slippery. There was loud rock and roll music playing. This man is ripping the guts out of a goat with a knife.
Some of these men and women work here every day for 8 hours a day.
Would you like to have a job like this when you leave school?
The workers cut the guts out of the goats' bodies and throw them into the plastic red boxes. The manager is holding my notebook under his arm while I take the photos. It says, 'MEAT IS MURDER. GO VEGETARIAN!' on it. But he never saw it.
Finally, the goats' bodies are put into bags and stored in a freezer. They are going to be exported to Korea. But I remember them as beautiful living wild goats. Everyone of the dead bodies hung in the freezer had a life, a family and a personality.
A photo taken outside the slaughterhouse. You can't tell by looking at it on the outside what horrible things they are doing in there.
It's all for money $$$ for profit $$ for greed $.
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