Animal Aid's campaign for mandatory CCTV and independent monitoring in all UK slaughterhouses. Helping vets to see what happens in the stunning and slaughter areas when they cannot be present.

Farmers Fresh, Wrexham

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Animal Aid placed hidden cameras in the lairage, loading and slaughter areas during Spring and Summer 2019. Once again, we have brought to light evidence of blatant staff incompetence and brutal treatment of animals.

Incidents of lawbreaking and deliberate cruelty were uncovered.

Our covert cameras capture appalling scenes of slaughterhouse incompetence and chaos at Farmers Fresh, Wales. Once again, we have brought to light evidence of blatant staff incompetence and brutal treatment of animals. This was further amplified by an extremely fast paced slaughter-line. Investigators filmed in Spring and Summer 2019.
Our cameras detected an array of concerning issues, including workers pinning down and cutting the throat of a sheep who appears fully conscious, and a stun-man picking up a sheep by her fleece and neck and hurling her down the slaughter conveyer line, whilst shouting. Another worker grabbed sheep by their throats or fleeces and threw them backwards into the conveyer, often with an audible crash.

Incompetence and chaos run rife at Welsh slaughterhouse Animal Aid investigators have revealed hidden animal suffering at Farmers Fresh lamb slaughterhouse in North Wales. We obtained four sets of film on visits between March 26th and June 3rd of this year. We were horrified to find the following:

  • • A worker fails to properly stun a sheep, who surges forwards onto the cutting table. Two workers pin her down, and whilst she would appear to be fully conscious, her throat is cut.

  • • A sheep thrashing so strongly on the shackle line following a brief stun, that both legs break free of the shackles and she drops into the blood pit. She is hauled out by the workers and simply hung back up with no attempt to re-stun her.

  • • Workers were seen misapplying tongs to the necks, snouts, faces and even the leg of an animal on one occasion. Many stuns appeared very brief, often just a second or less.

  • • Animals pulled along by their legs, dragged along by their throats, kneed, kicked, had hands clamped over their muzzles and on one occasion a worker even sits on a sheep. The abuse continued even in the presence of the Official Vet.

  • • A stun-man roughly picks up a sheep and hurls her down the slaughter conveyer line, whilst shouting. Another worker grabs sheep by their throats or fleeces and throws them backwards into the conveyer, often with an audible crash.

This damning footage challenges earlier claims by the Welsh Government of there not being evidence of serious legal breaches nor cruelty inside Welsh slaughterhouses, which has led them to deny the need for mandatory CCTV as a necessary safeguard.

The case is currently with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and we await a court date for the case to be heard.