A former slaughterhouse employee has revealed the brutal reality of working in an abattoir, saying the job made her feel physically sick and the smell of death hung 'thickly' in the air.

The unnamed worker, who spent six years working in a UK abattoir from 2010 as a quality control manager, said the experience affected her mental health and saw one of her colleagues left suicidal by the daily slaughter of cattle.

Speaking to BBC Stories, the woman said that as a child she had once dreamed of being a vet - but instead ended up in a job that left her depressed, having nightmares and eventually suicidal.

She recalled how she's still haunted by the daily journey she had to make past a skip full of cows' heads, where she would feel 'hundreds of pairs of eyes watching me'.

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A former slaughterhouse employee has revealed the shocking reality of working in an abattoir, saying that she would have to walk past hundreds of decapitated cows' heads on a daily basis, something which gave her frequent nightmares

The worker said that new employees would frequently pass out on their first tour of the slaughterhouse, after seeing feaeces on the floor and blood on the walls, saying: 'On my first day, they asked me pointedly and repeatedly if I was OK. It was quite common for people to faint during the tour, they explained.'

She also revealed fears for her own physical safety, calling the environment 'dangerous and brutal' as she described how the animals died in graphic detail.

HOW MANY ANIMALS ARE KILLED IN THE UK FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION? According to the Humane Slaughter Association, the UK kills around 2.6 million cattle, 10 million pigs, 14.5 million sheep and lambs and 950 million birds for human consumption every year. Slaughterhouse numbers in the UK are in decline however, with around 250 red meat abattoirs now in operation, compared to around 1,900 50 years ago. Advertisement

'There were countless occasions when, despite following all of the procedures for stunning, slaughterers would get kicked by a massive, spasming cow as they hoisted it up to the machine for slaughter.'

Life in the killing factory was so bleak that one of her colleagues, she said, had been driven to the brink of suicide while working there.

She reveals how her former co-worker, who was 'a bit of a joker', broke down in front of her one day, something she puts down to the daily grind of working in such a harrowing environment.

The worker says: 'He admitted that he was plagued by suicidal thoughts, that he didn't feel like he could cope any more, and that he needed help - but he begged me not to tell our bosses.'

The former quality control manager said conditions in the unnamed slaughterhouse were dangerous with 'spasming' cows often kicking out at staff

Mental health problems associated with working in a slaughterhouse are common, with 'Perpetrator-Induced Traumatic Syndrome' amongst the mental health problems affecting employees.

She says that she herself began to feel depressed and suicidal towards the end of her time at the abattoir and reveals that after she left - to pursue her current career in mental health - she heard that another man, whose daily job it had been to flay the carcasses of cattle, had died by suicide.

There were countless occasions when, despite following all of the procedures for stunning, slaughterers would get kicked by a massive, spasming cow... Former slaughterhouse worker

Slaughterhouse numbers in the UK are in decline, with around 250 red meat abattoirs now in operation, compared to around 1,900 50 years ago.

Despite a rise in the number of people becoming vegetarian or vegan, the UK still kills around 2.6 million cattle, 10 million pigs, 14.5 million sheep and lambs and 950 million birds for human consumption, according to the Humane Slaughter Association.

Under UK laws, animals must be effectively restrained and stunned 'rendering it insensible to pain' before being slaughtered quickly.