Published 27/08/2013

These British sheep and lambs have been transported from English fields to dimly lit sheds in France in the height of summer.

They will spend potentially a quarter of their lives indoors, Compassion's most recent investigation has revealed.

The sheep were being transported an estimated 18 hours from the Sheffield area to the Deux-Sèvres region of France, where they would live out the rest of their lives shut away from the fields.

Compassion's CEO, Philip Lymbery, says: "Many people will be absolutely astonished to know this is going on.

"British sheep belong in our fields and on our hillsides. The fact that these sheep could be spending a quarter of their lives in squalid sheds, is indicative of the sheer lack of common sense inherent in the live export trade."

The 500 sheep travelled a distance of almost 650 miles in July in temperatures in the high 20˚Cs. Animals were packed together so tightly that they could not all lie down at the same time.

Philip adds: "The despicable irony is that these sheep must have gone past dozens of slaughterhouses on their journey. Sheffield alone has three slaughterhouses approved for sheep slaughter. Farm animals should be reared and slaughtered as close as possible to the farm on which they are born. Instead these sheep are taken hundreds of miles to a foreign country in very hot conditions to be fattened in sheds."

You can help end live exports from the UK

Every year, tens of thousands of calves and sheep are subjected to this awful ordeal. Let's show UK Farming Minister, David Heath, that ending live exports could be as simple as A, B, C...

1. David Heath needs to propose changes to the archaic 1847 Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act to give local authorities the power to decide who uses their ports.

2. Local authorities could then, legally, refuse to accept the live export trade.

3. Thousands of animals could then be spared these long, nightmarish journeys.

Make a donation today to help launch a three-pronged attack on this cruel trade: