MP backs CCTV campaign for slaughterhouses

The campaign was launched by Animal Aid, after five years of investigating animal welfare breaches inside British slaughterhouses.

The national organisation placed fly-on-the-wall cameras inside 10 slaughterhouses and found nine were breaking animal welfare laws.

The footage revealed: slaughterhouse workers kicking, punching and beating animals in the head and face; picking them up by ears, legs and fleeces and throwing them; burning them with cigarettes; using electrical stunning tongs to inflict painful electric shocks on the animals; and cutting the throats of fully conscious sheep.

Failure to stun animals properly was also common.

Ms Smith signed a parliamentary motion calling for mandatory CCTV.

She said: “I have been appalled at footage emerging from some slaughterhouses. The behaviour exposed has been completely unacceptable and we must ensure this cruelty is stopped.”

The Early Day Motion 153 has now been signed by more than 120 MPs.