Posted: May 28th, 2012 - 10:28am
Source: Stock & Land

International Livestock Exports (ILE) has voluntarily installed CCTV cameras in four abattoirs in its Indonesian supply chain as an early response to the alleged animal welfare breaches raised earlier this year, which the government reported on last week.
It’s the first time CCTV cameras have been used to oversee animal welfare in the Indonesian market.
While other live exporters are supportive of the move, they say they won’t be following that lead any time soon.
ILE chief executive officer Mike Stanton said they responded immediately to the animal welfare claims - raised in February by Animals Australia - by introducing CCTV cameras and implementing stunning practices at the facility in question.
Mr Stanton said cameras would monitor animal handling practices in the four abattoirs at peak times.
But they won’t have animal welfare officers (AWOs) sitting in front of the TV screens watching 100 per cent of the time.
He said the AWOs would collect DVD footage and assess the vision for non-conformities around animal welfare.
If any non-conformities are found, they would take steps to improve animal handling practices, through increased training and up-skilling activities.
"This is all voluntary - we put these things in place and instead of taking five months to act we did so in the first month to improve animal welfare," he said.
Mr Stanton said the CCTV cameras would not necessarily be used to monitor any potential covert surveillance occurring in the abattoirs from extremist groups like Animals Australia, which he said was a concern and required increased security at all facilities.
But he said some facilities were owned and operated by the Indonesian government and exporters were unable to exert the same level of control at those facilities.