Hi,+my+name+is

Hayley Joyce N8835977 Judith Meiklejohn

**Artefact**
The artefact is a collection of pictures that shows the diversity of animals; it shows different types of animals in their natural habitat or caring for their young. The artefact also includes a picture of a human male as man shares the world with a multitude of animal species and all humans have the responsibility of treating animals humanely. The aim of this artefact is to highlight the diversity and the unique abilities and characteristics of animals and how they deserve to be free from inhumane treatment. Animals provide many benefits to humans and human health, particularly animals that are killed for food, so it is important to treat such animals decently and humanely.

The public health issue that this artefact represents is the humane treatment of animals and how animals deserve to be treated respectfully by humans. Animals should not be treated poorly and their unique characteristics and abilities should not be ignored or abused. Certain animals, particularly cattle, can still be used for food, as Australia’s live trade export industry is very beneficial to the country and foreign countries. However, humane practice of killing animals for food needs to be enforced and regulated. The Australian Government has implemented guidelines that need to be followed by live trade export workers for the humane treatment of animals but reports and investigations by animal welfare have shown that inhumane treatment of animals still occurs. Humans have an ethical responsibility to treat animals humanely and should do so in all environments. Treating animals humanely, particularly within the live export industry is important for population health as it can reflect positively the way humans interact with animals, reduce the need for worry and anger by animal welfare organisations, reduce the amount of money and resources used to implement humane animal treatment guidelines and create a safer, more pleasant environment for both humans and animals. **Literature Review **
 * Public Health Issue **

Within Australia’s live export industry alone, dozens of investigations mainly by animal welfare organisations such as ‘Animals Australia’ have shown the inhumane treatment of animals occurring in such industries. The majority of cases of live animal export cruelty occur overseas in the countries that Australia sends live trade to, particularly the Middle East and South East Asia (Animals Australia, 2013). 24 investigations in countries including: Israel, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan since 2003 have shown thousands of live export animals from Australia being treated inhumanely (Animals Australia, 2013).

The growing number of animal cruelty cases in live trade industries forced the Australian Government to implement the Live Trade Animal Welfare Partnership in 2009 and to reiterate the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock (Australian Government Department of Agriculture, 2011) and $3.2 million has been invested since 2010 to ensure that foreign countries meet Australia’s regulation. The fact that this much money has been invested in live trade animal welfare in the recent years proves that inhumane treatment of animals in the export industry is a serious problem that needs to be stopped.

However, despite Australia’s efforts at regulation of live trade animal welfare, recent investigations from organisations such as ‘Animals Australia’ have still shown the inhumane treatment of Australian animals once they have been exported overseas. The problem is that once Australian animals leave Australia, they often end up in countries which do not have animal welfare regulation, so inhumane treatment occurs (Animals Australia, 2013). Australia did respond to recent investigations showing animal cruelty occurring in export industries overseas and at one point temporarily banned all live trade to Indonesia in 2011 as a result of inhumane animal treatment. However, this ban was blamed for a $46.5 million loss for Australia’s agricultural sector and live trade to Indonesia has since resumed, with over 120,000 live cattle exports from Australia to Indonesia in 2012 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012).



Although the welfare of animals is an important issue in Australia seen through regulation and the implementation of animal welfare codes, money gained from Australia’s live export industry is still apparently more important than the welfare of animals, which is why live export has not been banned completely. In 2005, Australia’s livestock export generated almost $700 million and further increased to $996.5 million by 2009, and it is stated in reports from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture that ‘livestock export trade is of great importance to Australia and vital to Australia’s export earnings,’ (Australian Government Department of Agriculture, 2011). Live cattle exports in the March quarter 2013 increased by 28% to 109,000 when compared with the December quarter 2012. Of these, 55,000 or 51% were exported to Indonesia, 12,300 or 11% to Japan and 10,500 or 10% to Israel (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012). As seen by this data, Australian live export trade is not decreasing which means inhumane animal treatment is still able to occur.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">It is apparent that Australia will not soon completely ban live export but animals still deserve to be treated humanely and inhumane animal treatment still needs to stop. If live export will not stop completely, regulation of animal treatment should at least become stricter and consequences for not following regulation should be more severe.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">Peter Singer, an Australian moral philosopher, has published work including journal articles and a book titled ‘Animal Liberation’ which have helped launch the animal rights movement and highlight the skills and abilities of animals, their importance in the world and how they deserve to be treated humanely by humans. Peter Singer explained that animals should have access to three basic ‘human’ rights: the right to life, the right to liberty and the right to protection from torture (Singer, 2005). He also states that ‘the fact that animals clearly have some self-awareness shows that we should treat them differently,’ (Singer, 2005). Many people believe in Peter Singer’s philosophy of humane treatment of animals and it is mentioned in publications from ‘Animals Australia’ that over 1 million Australian’s have protested to live export and want to see live export banned (Animals Australia, 2013).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">Moral philosophers such as Peter Singer, animal welfare organisations and the Australian Government are well aware of the importance of stopping animal cruelty, and the public are also becoming increasingly passionate about the issue. Within recent years there has been an increase in campaigns highlighting the issue of animal cruelty and demanding the humane treatment of animals. On Facebook alone since 2011, there has been several ‘anti-animal cruelty’ campaigns created showing graphic photos of the cruelty that occurs to animals within the live trade industry and these campaigns each attract thousands of ‘likes’ by the public. It is clear through investigations by various animal welfare organisations and interventions from the Australian Government that the issue of animal cruelty particularly in live trade export industries is an important issue with significant media involvement and public awareness.





<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">As seen through protests, anti-animal cruelty campaigns throughout social media and government involvement, stopping inhumane treatment is a current, significant issue that affects a diverse multitude of people. As mentioned previously, in Australia alone, there are well over 1 million people who have signed the ‘Ban Live Export’ petition (Animals Australia, 2013) and many individuals and groups of people across Australia have participated in public protests regarding the issue.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">Cultural and Social Analysis **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">While there are many who believe in banning live export trade to stop animal cruelty, there are also many Australian’s who consume meat on a daily basis, with approximately 31.4kg of beef alone consumed per person within the year 2011-2012 (Meat and Livestock Australia, 2012), equating to a domestic expenditure on beef of approximately $6.2 billion in 2011-2012 (Meat and Livestock Australia, 2012). These results are not surprising considering Australia’s large cultural meat identity seen through the popularity of barbequing meat and consuming Australian meat products such as the meat pie.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;"> It is clear that consuming meat is a large part of Australia’s cultural identity, with the New South Wales Senator Bob Carr once describing the meat pie as ‘Australia’s national dish.’ In order to accommodate for Australian’s to enjoy their cultural meat identity and consume meat regularly, meat production has increased, which means the slaughtering of cattle in the livestock industry has increased, which further allows animal cruelty to occur. As shown in a publication from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013), cattle slaughtering increased by 1% to 711,000, which is the highest number of cattle slaughtering since 2006 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). Similarly, Australian beef production alone increased by 1% to a record of 198,000 tonnes in 2013 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">Australia is not stopping live export or cattle slaughter as it is has to meet the demands of foreign countries requiring Australian live trade and domestic demand for meat consumption. Many who want to stop animal cruelty occurring in these industries think the only way to stop the inhumane treatment of animals is to ban live trade and livestock industries; however this is extreme and would have economic and social consequences. Rather, stricter regulation of animal welfare and stronger consequences for not abiding by animal regulation protocols should be implemented in such industries.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">While animal cruelty in these industries is common and needs to be stopped, completely stopping live export or livestock industries would negatively impact on the significant number of live trade export workers, livestock industry workers and cattle farmers. In rural and regional areas of Australia alone, the livestock industry underpinned the employment of over 10,000 people as at 2011 (Australian Government Department of Agriculture, 2011). As mentioned previously, Australia’s livestock export sector alone generated a significant $996.5 million in 2009, and this large livestock industry provides thousands of employment opportunities for Australian’s and generates a substantial amount of the country’s income.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;"> To completely ban live trade exporting and stop livestock industries, thousands of workers in these industries would be negatively affected and would most likely lose their income which would have devastating social consequences for individuals and their families. The general public who consume meat on a daily basis would also be poorly affected if meat was to stop being produced.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">Although completely stopping live trade export and livestock industries would consequently stop animal cruelty occurring in these industries, there would also be significant social and economic consequences. Peter Singer’s philosophy is correct; animals should have the right to life, to liberty and to protection, and inhumane treatment of animals in live trade industries needs to cease. Stricter regulation and more severe punishments and consequences need to be implemented to ensure the welfare of animals while also still allowing Australia’s livestock industry to operate and generate income for the country and workers in these industries.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">Analysis of Artefact and Reflection **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">The artefact I chose for this topic represents the diversity of animals; how they are unique and each has skills and abilities that should give them the right to live without being treated inhumanely. I believe the artefact accurately represents the issue of stopping the inhumane treatment of animals as it depicts a variety of animals in their natural habitat and reminds readers how animals care for their young, have different unique characteristics and abilities and share the world with man. It should remind readers that all animals are put on earth for a reason and they should be free from inhumane treatment. I personally believe that cattle can be used for food purposes but I strongly believe this process should be done as humanely and respectfully as possible. This assessment piece has reminded me to be aware of issues and to realise these issues are complex and affect many different people and groups. I believe this assessment piece will remind me look at bigger issues outside of what I normally see and think about and to realise that issues such as these have significant social and cultural impacts.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">Two Wiki Reflections (user HLJ226 in discussion posts) **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_4_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2FcourseMain%3Fcourse_id%3D_104727_1

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_4_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2FcourseMain%3Fcourse_id%3D_104727_1


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">References **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Animals Australia. (2013, May 3). //Live Export: the Facts//. Retrieved from Animals Australia: http://www.banliveexport.com/facts/

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012, August 13). //Livestock Products, Australia, Jun 2012.// Retrieved from Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/7215.0main+features4Jun%202012

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012, March). //Livestock Products, Australia, March 2013.// Retrieved from Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/7215.0main+features4March%202013

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013, August). //Livestock and Meat, Australia, Aug 2013.// Retrieved from Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/7218.0.55.001

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Australian Government Department of Agriculture. (2011). //Live Animal Export Trade//. Retrieved from Australian Government Department of Agriculture: http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/welfare/export-trade

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Meat and Livestock Australia. (2012). //Australia's Beef Industry .// Retrieved from Meat and Livestock Australia: http://www.mla.com.au/files/5b349787-e9da-401d-a18f-a11101032d5d/

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Singer, P. (2005). Rights and wrongs. //Nature, 437//, 21-22.