An Australian butcher is facing backlash on social media after sharing graphic videos of himself killing farm animals.
Matt Christison, a TV personality who has appeared on River Cottage Australia, regularly shares images of dead animals from his farm in New South Wales.
In one recent video, he films himself walking up to a cow with a rifle before aiming at its head and firing a bullet. The animal is seen falling to the ground before the video ends.
“How to triple task by a male..filming..mumbling a tune..and shooting a 616kgs,” he wrote under the clip.
The post has not been censored by Instagram and does not carry a sensitive content warning.
He captioned the video with hashtags including “shoot” “#kill” “#oneshotkill” and #savage”.
One Instagram user complained about the controversial post.
“I’m all for eating meat but posting that sh*t for anyone to see if not right. At least censor it!” the comment said.
Another one of Christison’s videos, which has received more than 3,000 views shows a young boy using the dead body of a cow as a swing.
In the video, the cow’s large body is hung upside down with its legs tied in chains.
“Swinging into Thursday with cowboy wingnut. Don’t play with your food!” he wrote in the caption.
The controversial video sparked backlash from Instagram users, with many dubbing it “disgusting”. One person said: “Animals are not toys.”
In a third video, Christison said he is aware that some people have raised concerns about his videos. In response, he films himself filling up an empty cup with cow’s blood and drinking it.
“I’ve had a lot of people lately saying that I’m not respecting the cow enough. So I thought I might as well drink to the cow,” he says before taking a sip.
“So cheers to you, big girl,” he adds, gesturing to the dead cow behind him.
Defending his content, Christison said he does his job “in the most humane way possible, with no stress and no abuse, to provide the best ethically sourced meats available”.
The Independent has contacted Instagram and Christison for comment.
