Animal Aid placed hidden cameras inside the slaughterhouse for two days in July of this 2018.
The footage shows:
- • Several animals being beaten with piping about the body and one struck in the face.
- • A cow being threatened and losing her footing on the slippery floor as she tries to escape the slaughterman.
- • Increasingly distressed animals left for significant periods in stun boxes or in head restraints prior to being slaughtered.
- • A gate being closed on the face of one frightened animal.
- • Slaughterhouses are supposed to make sure that stunning pens restrict animals’ movements, so that they can be accurately stunned. This was certainly not the case here.
- • Cattle like to be able to see ahead of themselves – unfortunately the animals were forced to turn a corner in order to enter the stun box.
- • The layout and equipment appeared to be woefully out of date, not really fit for purpose and seemed to create additional stress and compounded suffering for the animals.
The damning footage was handed over to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the body that regulates slaughterhouses, who carried out an investigation.
