Warning: You're not going to like what you see

Warning: This e-mail contains images of animal cruelty that may distress you. If you'd prefer, click here to read more and sign our urgent petition without viewing images.It never should have happened. Once again, ABC TV's Four Corners has revealed new shocking mistreatment of Australian animals involved in the live export trade. Last night's program exposed imagery of terrified Australian sheep being treated in revolting ways.

The ill-fated sheep were stranded at sea for weeks in extreme heat and cramped conditions only to be unloaded in Pakistan where they were chased down and butchered with blunt knives and bulldozed into writhing piles. They were then dragged, beaten and tossed alive into mass graves.

This happened even after "tough new regulations" were introduced, supposedly to make the live export industry more humane. It's sickening that we need to write another email like this so soon after last year's cattle trade atrocities, but the images that aired last night cannot be ignored. They clearly demonstrate the need to end live exports and support its replacement with a more accountable processing industry, here in Australia.

Enough is enough. Tell the Minister for Agriculture, Joe Ludwig, that a piecemeal ban isn't enough this time. He must prevent this from ever happening again: www.getup.org.au/campaigns/animals/end-live-exports

If you missed the program, here's what happened:

Three months ago, 75,000 sheep were loaded onto the "Ocean Drover", a Wellard owned ship from Fremantle, bound for slaughter in the Middle East. Once in Bahrain, more than 20,000 of the flock were rejected on claims they carried disease -- claims that independent testing later proved to be false.

All of these sheep ended up being slaughtered in the most horrible way.Sheep are dragged away kicking after having their throats slit with blunt knivesThe company in charge, Wellard, did not disclose anything about the sheep having been previously rejected, because they were too keen to make a profit. They tried instead to unload them into the market unnoticed.

When the Pakistani authorities found out, they felt duped and reacted with outrage by ordering all of the sheep to be culled. Despite independent tests confirming the sheep were disease-free, all of these animals were gruesomely slaughtered.Sheep slowly bleed out after having their throats slitThere's lots of blame to go around but it's clear that Wellard has breached their export licence conditions and duty of care, and we’re calling for the licence to be immediately suspended pending further investigations. But Australia could guarantee that something like this never, ever, happens again – by simply requiring animals to be killed humanely, under Australia’s strict oversights, before that meat is sent overseas. Let’s turn this tragedy into a force for positive change, and demand a responsible end to live exports now: http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/animals/end-live-exports

New Zealand has already taken the lead and has phased out live exports, we should follow. Processing meat in Australia will create jobs and ensure that Australian standards apply to the treatment of animals.

There are 32 million sheep sold in Australia each year for domestic consumption and meat export, and less than 3 million sheep exported live. Meanwhile, the Middle East market for sheep meat - our biggest market and growing rapidly - is worth $72 million more than live export.

Let's tell Minister Ludwig and his Government: we've seen enough. It is time to end this suffering: http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/animals/end-live-exports

Yours in hope,
the GetUp team

PS - No one wants to hurt farmers, but it would actually keep more jobs in Australia if we processed meat at home, rather than shipping animals off to be butchered overseas -- where experience shows us even recently improved regulations can too easily be breached. Help end this senseless cruelty today: http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/animals/end-live-exports