Animal Liberation Victoria
September 2015
Harriet was born to be killed. Brought into this world only to profit humans. For the first six months of her life she was seen only as a product, a source of income, a commodity. The meat industry is trying to convince the public that anyone who refuses to eat her is un-Australian.
She was hours away from having her throat cut, along with thousands of other young lambs. Now Harriet is loving life and making new friends.
In the lead up to Australia Day, more than 400,000 lambs are killed each week. Harriet was destined to be one of those slaughtered.
She was born to be killed. Brought into this world only to profit humans. For the first six months of her life she was seen only as a product, a source of income, a commodity. The meat industry is trying to convince the public that anyone who refuses to eat her is un-Australian.
When she reached slaughter age, Harriet was loaded onto a truck and taken
to the abattoir. Locked into a holding pen with hundreds of other lambs, all
terrified, they could do nothing but wait. Those who arrived ahead of them
were forced into a conveyor-restrainer and pushed inside the building just
metres away.
Harriet and her friends could hear the other lambs kicking and thrashing,
trying to get away. They heard their cries and they smelled their blood.
Darkness fell and some of the people left. Everybody was scared and many
cried out. [Watch
undercover video here.]
Later in the night, when the workers’ voices were coming from a different
part of the building and the lights had gone out, new people arrived. The
lambs had learned to be frightened of people and tried to run away. They
could not know that these people were from the Animal Liberation Victoria
rescue team.
There is no way to ‘choose’ who to save, every single one of them deserved
to be rescued, but without a transport truck, open access, and acreage for
them all to live on, only one could be saved that night. Harriet was that
one.
In the lead up to Australia Day, more than 400,000 lambs are killed each
week. Harriet was destined to be one of those slaughtered.
She was born to be killed. Brought into this world only to profit humans.
For the first six months of her life she was seen only as a product, a
source of income, a commodity. The meat industry is trying to convince the
public that anyone who refuses to eat her is un-Australian.
When she reached slaughter age, Harriet was loaded onto a truck and taken to
the abattoir. Locked into a holding pen with hundreds of other lambs, all
terrified, they could do nothing but wait. Those who arrived ahead of them
were forced into a conveyor-restrainer and pushed inside the building just
metres away.
Harriet and her friends could hear the other lambs kicking and thrashing,
trying to get away. They heard their cries and they smelled their blood.
Darkness fell and some of the people left. Everybody was scared and many
cried out.
Later in the night, when the workers’ voices were coming from a different
part of the building and the lights had gone out, new people arrived. The
lambs had learned to be frightened of people and tried to run away. They
could not know that these people were from the Animal Liberation Victoria
rescue team.
There is no way to ‘choose’ who to save, every single one of them deserved
to be rescued, but without a transport truck, open access, and acreage for
them all to live on, only one could be saved that night. Harriet was that
one.
She was bundled into a blanket and carried out of the abattoir and into a
life of freedom. Harriet had been sheduled to be killed and processed in
time to be on somebody’s Australia Day BBQ. This is what happened to her
friends.
Harriet, named after Harriet Beecher Stowe, an abolitionist who helped to
free slaves, will instead live out her life at a sanctuary with other
rescued animals. She will never again be seen as a commodity, she will be
loved for the individual being she is.
Return to: Animal Stories
Read more at The Meat and Dairy Industries