Slaughterhouse Worker Jailed for Cruelty

Anthony Bagshaw of family-owned butcher shop S Bagshaw & Sons in Leek, England will serve 10 months in jail for 24 counts of animal cruelty. Bagshaw admitted to kicking a pig in the face, throwing sheep against a gate, and beating another sheep with a stun gun and metal shackle until the animal was unconscious. The key piece of evidence in the conviction was an undercover video pulled from a secret camera installed at the shop from August 2014 until March 2015 by animal-rights group Hillside Animal Sanctuary (HAS). “Had we not been able to obtain the harrowing evidence of barbaric cruelty happening behind the closed doors of this ‘high class’ family slaughterhouse,” HAS representative John Watson said, “it would still be going on right now.” In addition to his 10-month sentence, Bagshaw is barred from keeping any animals for 15 years. While many documented offenses against farmed animals are uncovered at suppliers for major corporations such as Tyson and Eggland’s Best, this incident proves that cruelty in the animal agriculture industry is not confined to factory farms alone.