SHEER CRUELTY - PHOTO+VIDEO

Animal rights group the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal (PETA) released the vision overnight, which they claim was taken in shearing sheds across NSW, Victoria and South Australia between August 2013 and March 2014.The shearers were captured stamping on the heads and necks of sheep when the animals appeared to panic and also shown throwing the sheep around and slamming their heads and bodies against hard wooden floors.Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has claimed questions 'need to be asked' about how PETA obtained the footage.Mr Joyce told ABC: 'One of the questions I ask is with the up close shot of the man hitting the sheep, which is obviously exceptional and cruel and in many instances would be immediate dismissal, where exactly was the camera?'Did the person know that they were filmed? Were they actually part of process? There are lots of questions that need to be asked.'Three PETA US investigators went undercover in 19 shearing sheds across the country and claim to have witnessed attacks by 70 workers, which often left the animals bleeding from their eyes, noses and mouths.'They were given jobs and they worked with nine different shearing companies. Filming happened openly and many shearers were aware they were being filmed,' Claire Fryer, from PETA Australia, told MailOnline. Wool Producers Australia (WPA) president Geoff Fisken said the actions of shearers in the video was 'unacceptable and unsupportable', according to Stock & Land.Mr Fisken added the footage showed isolated incidents by a few shearers. 'We’re sure it doesn’t portray the 99.9 per cent majority of wool shearers and those shearers would be appalled by it as well,' he said. 'Woolgrowers condemn this treatment of animals; we’re not in the business of treating animals like that and nor are shearers.'We want that type of behaviour to be removed from shearing sheds in Australia.'The RSPCA said the allegations made public by PETA were serious.'The allegations are serious and will be investigated by RSPCA Inspectors as information comes to hand for potential breaches of the relevant state animal welfare legislation,' a spokeswoman said. Outcry has also come in the US over the footage which shows the same treatment of animals in American ranches.Despite not having seen the footage, a representative of the main U.S. wool industry trade group, the American Wool Council, told NBC News the behavior described by PETA was 'unacceptable.''We do not condone or support the actions of anyone that results in the abuse of sheep either intentionally or unintentionally,' Rita Samuelson told the website. 'Rough handling of animals that might result in the injury of a sheep is an unacceptable maneuver during the shearing process or anytime when sheep are handled.'In 2011 animal cruelty in the live export industry was put under the microscope after footage released by Animals Australia showed cattle being inhumanely slaughtered in Australian centres in Indonesia.This prompted a national and international outcry, and live exports to Indonesia were suspended for just under a  month, from June 7 to July 6 2011.Following this, the Australian government were forced to put in place stronger safeguards to ensure the well being of all animals leaving Australia, but animal rights groups argue the situation has not improved.Following the more recent footage released on Thursday, The PETA investigators claim farmers put tight rings on some lambs' scrotums with anaesthetics to castrate them, but when that failed shearers would just cut off their testicles with shears.The animals were also deprived of food and water before being sheared so they were too weak to fight, they claim.Footage shows the shearers violently beating sheep and jabbing them in the head with sharp metal clippers and even a hammer.Activists claim no painkillers were administered to the sheep before shearers used needles to sew gaping, bloody wounds caused by the shearing.'Sheep are very gentle animals. Most of the sheep weren’t resisting in any way so it would have been especially frightening for them,' Ms Fryer said. 'I think it’s extremely shocking. Sheep are very gentle animals. They show fear if they’re on their own.'It’s devastating and no compassionate person could watch that footage and not be horrified.'The footage was released by PETA in a new campaign targeting the Australian wool industry.Mr Fisken said $2.8 million had been spent by WPA in the last year to train shearers to prevent injury or cruelty.(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az