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Abbatoir workers have been secretly filmed kicking and throwing baby lambs into the air before failing to stun the animals, sending them to slaughter fully concious.

Elsewhere in the undercover footage, some of the animals are seen being trampled to death in overcrowded pens, many unable to even walk by the time they are taken to be killed.

Activists belonging to Spanish animal welfare group NGO Equalia filmed the animal abuse and is using the footage to call for CCTV to be installed in all slaughterhouses across Spain.


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CCTV became mandatory in every slaughterhouse in England in May, with Spanish animal rights activists hoping this latest video will help them to change the law there too.



NGO Equalia have not named the abattoir but have said it is located in the province of Segovia, north of Madrid.

It claims the abuse was filmed this year after an activist breached security to install hidden CCTV cameras at the slaughterhouse.

In one part of the footage, a worker chats on a mobile phone as a lamb dangles, moving, in mid-air, before being sent for slaughter while concious.

Another member of staff appears to use his stun gun on the floor – missing the animals – before they are killed.

Workers kick and throw young animals around as others become trampled in overcrowded conditions, animal rights activists claim (Picture: Solarpix/Equalia)

Lambs are hurled into the air like rag dolls after being shoved through crowded pens in the footage (Picture: Solarpix/Equalia)

Not using a stun gun – which eases pain and suffering for the animals before slaughter – violates EU animal welfare rules.

Rules also state that animals that are severely injured or unable to walk should be killed as soon as possible to end suffering and not be sent for slaughter to be sold as meat.

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Silvia Mayorga, a spokesman for Equalia which has filed a formal complaint to prompt a court investigation, 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.’

In a statement, the animal rights group said: ‘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 another piece of footage a colleague appears to violate EU animal welfare rules by using his stun gun on the floor instead of on the animals to ease their suffering (Picture: Solarpix/Equalia)

One worker was allegedly filmed speaking on a phone before sending a lamb to slaughter without being stunned (Picture: Solarpix/Equalia)

‘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.’



As the slaughterhouse has not been formally named by the NGO, Metro.co.uk has been unable to approach it for comment.

In 2016 in Spain, two men were given a year’s suspended jail sentence for killing pigs at a farm in Fuente Alamo, 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 was filmed flexing his biceps as he stood over the animal while a colleague joked: ‘Rest in peace.’

Another clip filmed at a slaughterhouse in Ottery St Mary, Devon, in September showed workers beating cows with pipes and shutting their necks in gates.

A spokesman for PJ Hayman, which owns the slaughterhouse and supplies butchers across Devon, told Metro.co.uk it denied any welfare wrongdoing and refused to comment further.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) launched an investigation after animal rights organisation Animal Aid released the footage.

Additional reporting by Natalie Penza.

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