RIVALEA has sacked two workers after animal cruelty claims emerged, a move welcomed by an RSPCA inspector for its swiftness.
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Video footage showing a male worker at the Corowa abattoir excessively prodding and kicking a pig was released to the media and police last week.
The 13-minute video was anonymously handed to new animal rights organisation Aussie Farms.
NSW RSPCA chief inspector David Oshannessy told The Border Mail yesterday he had concerns about some of the images in the video.
“Without all the details, the effort used to manage the pig in the video appeared to be excessive,” he said.
“It’s difficult to understand the justification for the actions that were observed in the video.”
Mr Oshannessy commended the company for taking the welfare of animals seriously.
“It’s good to see the company obviously taking the welfare issue seriously by investigating the matter and swift action being taken,” he said.
Mr Oshannessy said the success of any legal action was questionable as the video had been filmed illegally.
Rivalea’s managing director Mick Hewat said the company had launched an immediate investigation on Friday to determine if any mistreatment of animals had occurred on company property.
“We have taken swift action in response to our findings and this morning dismissed two employees as a result,” he said yesterday.
“This is not acceptable behaviour on any of Rivalea’s properties.
“We expect high levels of behaviour regarding animal welfare from all of our employees.”
The company declined to give on details of the sacked employees or confirm whether one of the dismissed workers was the man in the video footage.
A Rivalea spokesman said the investigation was a thorough process.
“After discovering an allegation of animals being mistreated we looked into it and found two employees that had breached the company’s animal welfare policy and they have been dismissed,” he said.
