Do I have a beef with my meat?

I can’t bring myself to watch the Four Corners report on Live Exporting of Australian Cattle to Indonesia. I don’t know why it’s taking me this long to decide whether or not I want to see it, but something inside me just keeps saying ‘don’t watch it, it’ll give you nightmares.’ 

It may sound ridiculous and over dramatic to some, but I’m seriously terrified of what I’ll see. I fear the worst after seeing only a few seconds of footage included in a news story covering all the feedback the original report generated.

Despite not wanting to see the slaughter of these gorgeous animals, I feel like I need to watch it and wake up from this naivety I so happily live in everyday. 

Yes, I am a meat eater. I love nothing more than going to the pub for a delicious rare eye fillet with baked potato and lashings of mushroom gravy. The thought of it now even makes my mouth water. But where has my steak come from? What cruel and unusual punishment did Daisy go through just to feed me? Is she happy to feed me or was she dragged to her end kicking and bucking to run free? Even now the visuals I conjure up for myself are haunting.

I don’t pretend to know much about the Australian beef industry (this could be an old issue as far as I know), or the Australian Government's exporting agreement with Indonesia, but all this talk has made me think twice about the basics... Is the meet, poultry and fish I buy at my local supermarket killed humanely? Is it better to buy meat from an organic market? But, just because a product is organic doesn’t mean it’s killed ‘nicely', does it?

I guess this is where I need to ask myself what is my level of acceptability relating to the killing of animals? Perhaps what disgusts me doesn’t bother you...  Do I continue to shop ignorantly or do I start making changes?

I don’t know whether it’s because I recently became a mother and my new role has brought these feelings to the surface (i.e. protection, love, humility) or whether at 31 I’m starting to genuinely consider my impact on Mother Earth and her inhabitants, but either way, it seems the Four Corners story (and the surrounding attention) has brought me a new found awareness of my meat. Perhaps my days of ordering Australia’s best grain-fed, well... anything, are numbered.

If you'd like to see the Animals Australia story on live exporting, click here.