AUSTRALIAN sheep have been clubbed, stabbed and buried alive during a crude cull of animals in Pakistan, sparking fresh calls for the trade to be phased out and banned.

A video has emerged showing the sheep being brutally killed, and the Australian company that exported the sheep, Wellard Group, had been shown the footage and confirmed sheep were killed in an unacceptable manner after its staff were forced off the feedlot.

Brutally killed ... the infected sheep in Karachi earlier this month. Credit:AFP

The Karachi edition of The International News reported: ''Like a giant mass of wool, bloodied and filthy, they lay in trenches - slit open, stabbed or clubbed to death, while many still wriggled with some life left in them, soon to be buried alive.'' The sheep arrived in Karachi this month, after receiving a clean bill of health by Australian and Pakistan officials. They had been stranded at sea for two weeks after Bahrain rejected them because some had the common scabby mouth disease.

Despite Pakistan government officials saying the animals were healthy, local authorities said they were unfit for human consumption, claiming they had salmonella and anthrax, and the 20,000 sheep must be culled. A court injunction halted culling, but up to 7000 have been killed.