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Undercover video shot by an animal welfare group appearing to show the brutal treatment of sheep at a Yorkshire abattoir has rekindled the debate over whether animals need to be stunned before they are killed.
The footage gathered by campaigning group Animal Aid shows sheep being kicked, threatened with knives and thrown into solid structures. In one case a worker appears to be pinning a sheep's head down with his foot. Four slaughtermen at Bowood Lamb, a halal slaughterhouse in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, have had their operating licences suspended and the company said one worker had been sacked.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched an investigation into the footage, saying there is "no excuse for treating animals in the way shown on the video" and adding that prosecutions could follow.