Abattoir workers have been filmed using animal pens as toilets and throwing baby lambs around like toys in these shocking scenes exposed by a Spanish welfare group.
The horrific footage secretly filmed in Segovia, north of Madrid, shows one worker talking on his phone for over a minute while a lamb dangles helplessly in mid-air in obvious pain.
In another piece of footage a colleague appears to violate animal welfare rules by using his stun gun on the floor instead of on the animals to ease their suffering before they have their throats slit.
Several lambs appeared to be near death or unable to stand up, when by law animals in their condition should be killed before reaching the abattoir.
The horrific footage secretly filmed in Segovia, north of Madrid, shows one worker talking on his phone for over a minute while a lamb dangles helplessly in mid-air
The animal rights group, Equalia, is pushing for mandatory CCTV in every slaughterhouse, similar to a law which took effect in England in May.
The group said most of the dreadful images were filmed this year after an animal rights activist managed to breach security at the slaughterhouse and install hidden CCTV cameras.
A worker can be seen talking on his mobile phone for more than a minute while a lamb dangles helplessly in mid-air – fully conscious and in obvious pain – before it is sent on for slaughter.
Although the slaughterhouse has not been formally named by the NGO, it has been identified as the same one in the province of Segovia that last year was accused of fraudulently labelling meat.
Silvia Mayorga, a spokesman for Equalia, said: ‘We are disgusted at the treatment the animals receive and it worries us that some of the lambs that have entered the food chain are not apt for human consumption.
‘We firmly believe that it is necessary that, by law and as happens in countries like England, every Spanish slaughterhouse has CCTV cameras in its installations to prevent cases of animal cruelty, guarantee greater security for workers and provide the transparency consumers deserve.’
The group said most of the dreadful images were filmed this year after an animal rights activist managed to breach security at the slaughterhouse and install hidden CCTV
Several lambs appeared to be near death or unable to stand up, when by law animals in their condition should be killed before reaching the abattoir
Equalia said in a statement: ‘The workers of this abattoir are not content with hitting, squashing, slapping and throwing the lambs.
‘They also cause them terrible suffering by not always using stun machinery which is necessary to cause the animal less pain before they have their throats cut.
‘It’s scandalous to see how on occasions, one of the workers apparently pretends to stun the lambs by pressing his hand-held stun gun against the floor so it counts for real, therefore breaching European regulations relating to animal welfare and protection when it comes to their slaughter.
‘In others, the machine where the lambs are placed before being slaughtered is left unattended with animals on them, prolonging their suffering and stress.
‘Not only is this due to a mechanic failure because the video shows how an operator talks for more than a minute by mobile phone while a lamb is hanging fully conscious by one leg.’
The animal rights group which took the footage, Equalia, is pushing for mandatory CCTV in every slaughterhouse, similar to a law which took effect in England in May
Abattoir workers have been filmed using animal pens as toilets and throwing baby lambs around like toys in these shocking scenes
Two men were given a year’s suspended jail sentence in September 2016 for killing several pigs at a farm in Fuente Alamo in the south-eastern Spanish province of Murcia by beating and stabbing them.
They were prosecuted after being filmed hitting the pregnant animals over the head with iron bars before digging dirty metals swords into their sides repeatedly.
One of the men filmed played up to the camera as a pig writhed squealing and dying in front of them after he stabbed it repeatedly along with a colleague.
He flexed his biceps as he stood over the animal after murdering it in the most savage way possible while a colleague joked out loud: ‘Rest in peace.’
The piglets inside the sows were pulled out of their mothers’ stomachs alive after they were slaughtered.
Four men were charged after the horrific footage was made public but arrest warrants were issued for two of them after they failed to attend trial.