Timmy the sheep led a mob of concerned Victorians at a rally at the MCG Thursday night calling on Primary Industries Ministers to close the loophole that allows un-stunned slaughter in Australia.

The Ministers are meeting to consider removing the exemptions obtained by some abattoirs in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia to slaughter sheep without stunning them unconscious, for a small demand for Kosher and Halal slaughter.

Animals Australia Executive Director Glenys Oogjes said by law stunning is mandatory in Australia, with 99 per cent of animals rendered unconscious before slaughter.

“The overwhelming scientific evidence is that cutting the throat of a conscious animal is cruel and leads to a prolonged, fearful and painful death. There are sound reasons why our law requires stunning in this country, so it is completely unacceptable to allow any exemptions.

“Un-stunned slaughter is also totally unnecessary. The Islamic community widely accepts stunning as Halal, in fact we have over 40 Halal-certified export abattoirs sending meat from sheep that were stunned all over the world.

“The Jewish community accepts stunning of cattle so there is absolutely no reason why the stunning of sheep shouldn’t also be accepted.

According to Ms Oogjes, much of the cruelty documented by Animals Australia in Indonesia and throughout the Middle East was the result of un-stunned slaughter.

“Removing these exemptions will not only prevent the brutal deaths of some 250,000 sheep every year, it will also properly represent the interests of the Australian community which has been rightly horrified after witnessing the reality of this practice.”