CCTV at all abattoirs to stop cruelty to animals

ABATTOIRS will be required to have CCTV to monitor the killing of animals in a bid to end appalling cruelty.

Official logs have revealed evidence of hundreds of cases of serious suffering over the past two years. Many more are thought to have gone unseen due to a lack of monitoring.

However, Michael Gove has announced plans to install CCTV in all slaughterhouses, which can be viewed by official vets to ensure animals are treated with compassion. The new Environment Secretary said the decision would confirm Britain’s reputation for high welfare and food standards after Brexit.

In April the Daily Mail revealed horrific cruelty at one of Britain’s biggest halal slaughterhouses in Lancashire. Undercover filming at the plant showed a slaughterman repeatedly sawing at the neck of sheep with a blunt knife as they passed down a conveyor belt.

The animals were not killed instantly – as should be the case – and so appear to have gone through enormous pain and suffering. Some were clearly still alive, fitting and jumping as they went down the bloodsoaked killing line.

In other scenes, captured by Animal Aid, sheep were seen being lifted and thrown on to a narrow conveyor belt at the start of the slaughter process.

The Food Standards Agency, whose officials police abattoirs, banned the slaughterman involved and sent in inspectors to supervise killing.

Animal Aid director Isobel Hutchinson said: ‘If implemented, this measure will help protect vulnerable animals from the kind of gratuitous abuse and violence we have filmed during our many undercover investigations.’

‘Gratuitous violence’