Chantal Teague and “Matilda” want people to care about what’s on their plates.
By Mara Pattison-Sowden
The Seville resident doesn’t consider herself a radical, but learning about the inhumane treatment of cattle shipped and slaughtered in Indonesia and the Middle East has led her to take up the cause for the people of the Casey electorate.
“After the whole thing on Four Corners, I saw clips, I started educating myself, I knew it was bad and I’ve been obsessed by it for the last six months,” she said.
“I don’t consider myself a radical extremist, but I’m trying to do things I can see will make politicians aware.”
Chantal joined the World Society for the Protection of Animals’ Move Forward campaign to encourage the Labor Party to put animal welfare on their agenda and introduce legislation to phase out live exports.
Rallies in the city, protesting at Julia Gillard’s Werribee office and approaching people in the street with “Matilda” the cow have all been part of Chantal’s attempts to raise awareness.
She said the Casey electorate was “extremely behind” the campaign, and locally she had the support of Coldstream’s Animal Aid and Wandin Vet.
The Four Corners investigation blew out the cruelty of live animal exports, which led to the Federal Government banning trade for six weeks.
But nothing has changed, said Chantal, after the government recently rejected stunning laws which were the very minimum they could have done, “so the animals are still being slaughtered fully conscious”.
She said the overcrowded ships had one vet for every 100,000 sheep, and cows were fed into restraint boxes with terrifying noise, where they have their throats cut multiple times with blunt knives.
“It can take up to 20 minutes for them to die, and those restraint boxes are partly funded by Australian taxpayers,” she said.
“We’re a first world nation indulging in third world practices.”
Chantal said banning live exports would also save Australian jobs.
New Zealand banned live exports in 2003 and farmers had told her they were now better off.
“There are Aussie farmers out there that see it’s cruel and some can see it will be better economically, but there will be an adjustment period,” she said.
“We just want the animals that they earn a living from taken care of.”
Her husband Russell supported her campaigning, but said it was very confronting.
“You have to know all the grisly details to back up the claims,” he said.
Chantal said the best way people could be heard was by writing to the Labor Party, or signing a petition.
“This is global and Australia is being condemned,” she said.
Find out more about Chantal’s campaign on Facebook at Move Forward Casey.
