CALL 'culling' what it really is - slaughter. I write following The Mirror's investigation of mass cruelty, which I am sure is only the tip of the iceberg.

I witnessed the mass slaughter at Salters Lane, Batchley.

Was this public execution really necessary, carried out in a residential area as near to the road as possible?

Children lined the road to watch what I can only describe as an horrific scene.

Lambs held two at a time and shot through the head while ewes in total panic were crammed in a pen to await their fate.

What horrified me more was the way the slaughtermen cast the lambs onto a pile.

When I returned an hour later, all the animals were dead, piled high like a muck heap.

These sickening scenes will stay with me for a long time.

Salters Lane apparently is typical - dead sheep piled high, rotting four days later.

Surely this poses a health hazard to all Batchley, the smell alone is disgusting.

I would like to know who regulates the way these animals are killed, who decides the site and why they are left to rot?

According to MAFF, lambs should be destroyed by lethal injection, so why were these shot?

Paula Leddy

Snowshill Close

Church Hill North