Ray explodes over horses ‘killed for profit’

Broadcaster Ray Hadley has made explosive allegations that horses slaughtered at a remote NSW property, which also rehomed hundreds of wild brumbies, were sold to greyhound trainers as dog food.

In April, more than 500 butchered horse carcasses were discovered at the Wagga Wagga property owned by horse trader Adrian Talbot, the brother of the chairman of the Wagga Wagga Greyhound Club Ben Talbot, and a member of the Greyhound Welfare & Integrity Commission’s Industry Participant Advisory Council.

Hadley, who advocates for the protection of brumbies, used parliamentary privilege to allege Adrian’s brother Ben Talbot took the horse carcasses and “distributed it to greyhound trainers in northern Victoria and southern NSW at a profit”.

“They were … killed for dogs for profit,” said Hadley.

“It’s a fairly lucrative enterprise dog meat, particularly in the greyhound industry.”

He said he had initially been told of the alleged illegal knackery from greyhound trainers, who were “horrified to see themselves party to the slaughter of horses”.

“It was pretty well known the meat was coming from Talbot’s knackery, which turned out to be an illegal knackery.”

Hadley said he grew more concerned after it was revealed the property had rehomed 260 brumbies from Kosciuszko National Park, and feared the brumbies were among the 500 remains found on the site.

In light of the allegations, the rehoming program – which seeks to remove wild horses from the national park – has been paused amid a multi-government investigations.

“If that’s the way we rehome brumbies, we’re in a sad state of affairs,” he said.

While Hadley alleged “collusion” between Ben Talbot and a member of National Parks and Wildlife Service, NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said external investigations had cleared the staff member.

Hadley’s claims have been denied by Greyhound Welfare & Integrity Commission’s chief operating officer Wade Birch.

Giving evidence to the inquiry earlier, Mr Birch said no greyhound participants had indicated they had purchased meat from Mr Talbot’s property.

“The allegations that you speak of, they remain allegations. There’s been no findings and no charges laid against any greyhound racing participants, including Mr Ben Talbot.”

In April, Wagga Wagga City Council confirmed the discovery of April this year, following reports the horses had been left in a dry creek bed.

The council said carcasses were found in varying states of decay, and had been discovered at location throughout the property.

“Some of these carcasses were no more than skeletal remains while others were killed relatively recently,” the council said in a statement.

Wagga Wagga property investigated in 2021

More details have been revealed about the property where more than 500 slaughtered horse carcasses were discovered, with allegations the animals were being killed as part of an illegal horse knackery for pet food.

Allegations of illegal horse slaughtering, the possession of firearms, the presence of sheep testosterone, and the theft of a horse had been referred to the NSW Food Authority as early as 2021, it was revealed during a parliamentary inquiry into the aerial shooting of brumbies at Kosciuszko National Park.

This was three years before Wagga Wagga City Council confirmed the discovery of more than 500 horses in April this year.

Separately, new figures from NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe confirmed 260 brumbies from the national park had been resettled at the Wagga Wagga property.

On Thursday, NSW Food Authority’s compliance director Greg Vakaci said they referred the matter to police, however didn’t follow up on the complaint.

Mr Vakaci added he did not receive advice to the number of carcasses at the property.

His comments come amid ongoing investigations at the site, in a multi-government approach involving the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), NSW Police, NSW Food Authority, Local Land Services, Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and Racing NSW.

Further investigations revealed 434kg of animal flesh was seized from the property, comprised of 320kg of horse meat, and 114kg of pig fat, Mr Vakaci told the inquiry on Thursday.

Speaking hypothetically, Mr Vakaci said the presence of different animals products in one facility posed cross-contamination risks.

“There are controls in place that assure certain animals are being processed at particular points, and that comes down to how they’re restrained,” he said.

“Minimising contamination, cross-contamination is really important.

“Hypothetically processing of different species does happen but its controlled through their systems.”

Council staff details “confronting” discovery

Wagga Wagga City Council’s general manager Peter Thompson also detailed how council staff and police discovered “piles of horses” at the Wagga Wagga property, following a tip from an informant.

A group of about 12 people, including council staff and five police officers entered the 100-acre property on March 5, where they were confronted by horrific scenes.

“We drove to the location where the informants said that she had seen the carcasses. The carcasses were there but they had been roughly covered by soil, so there were bits of horses that weren’t covered, and bits that were.

“The way I describe it, it is probably an area the size of the bus that had been covered over with soil.”

Mr Thompson said staff recorded about 12 to 14 separate piles of carcasses, in various states of display, from horse skeletons to decomposing corpses.

In one case, staff encountered the intestines of a recently butchered horse, which were left behind a tree.

“To actually be confronted by something like this at scale that is found to have taken out over a period of years is something that is quite confronting … and I don’t think that’s an unreasonable word to use in the circumstances,” he said.

While Mr Thompson commended the help from other government agencies, he admitted he was “surprised” the council hadn’t been alerted to previous concerns of the property.

“From my perspective, if you look at what we did as logical steps in managing the issue I’m surprised if there was complaints since 2017, why it wasn’t red-flagged,” he said.

“But there could be all sorts of reasons within agencies, (like) resourcing illness, miscommunication – it certainly would be unfair of me to speculate.”

260 brumbies sent to Wagga Wagga property

Giving evidence NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said what unfolded at Wagga Wagga was “shocking,” and said about 260 horses from Kosciuszko National Park had been sent to the property.

Sharing updated figures of aerial shooting at Kosciuszko National Park, she said 8505 horses had been removed between 2019 to May 20 this year, with 5539 removed through aerial shooting.

Out of 2760 horses which had been rehomed from the park, only one horse was unaccounted for.

Ms Sharpe also confirmed no money was exchanged for the rehoming of horses.

She said investigations had been undertaken by a private company which she believed found there had been no wrong doing by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) staff.

“National Parks and Wildlife Service has found only one horse was unaccounted for out of around 2700 that have been trapped since 2019,” she said.

“The horses are provided free of charge and are obtained when requested and if available, suggesting there is no incentive to make any improper payments.”

She said the current review, which will deliver its findings on June 14, will look into how government agencies share data, with the Wagga Wagga property flagged by another agency which wasn’t referred to NPWS staff, the department responsible for the rehoming.

“The review will get to the bottom of this but my understanding is it was not shared with national parks. If that’s the case, then that shouldn’t have happened,” she said.

NSW is legally required to rude the brumby population in Kosciuszko to 3000 by mid-2027, with current estimates suggesting there are more than 14,000 in the park.

The horses are credited with the destruction of the natural habitat of the park, and threaten more than 30 native species.

RSPCA lashed over investigation

Questioning of senior RSPCA staff also revealed investigations by staff in January only searched one of 20 acres of the property, which revealed about 20 live animals.

“Their priority is to assess and determine the condition of the live animals which was also the subject of the complaint,” said RSPCA chief executive officer Steve Coleman,

“Having satisfied themselves that the condition of the live animals was appropriate, there next step is to talk to the owner again.”

Questions were also raised over why investigators failed to investigate or go into a cool room, despite allegations the property was being used as an illegal knackery, a building used to slaughter animals for animal food.

Under questioning by Nationals MP Wes Fang, Mr Coleman admitted that while investigators saw the cool room, they didn’t go into the room.

Under intense questioning, Mr Coleman admitted that with “benefit of hindsight” he acknowledged the RSPCA should have referred this to the Department of Primary Industries.

“Do we look at every cool room on every property that we go to? No. With the benefit of hindsight, should we have? Yes,” he said.

Animal Justice MP and committee chair Emma Hurst said concerns raised in the hearing was evidence that NSW needed strong animal protection laws.

“The animal protection framework has consistently failed in NSW, and has been historically set up to fail,” she said.

“Once anyone shines a spotlight on the oversight or upholding of animal protection laws, the cracks become obvious- and this is just another example.

I don’t blame any one agency but rather the NSW government for failing to develop proper oversight and robust animal protection laws.”