Australia PM demands Pakistan probe sheep slaughter

SYDNEY (AFP) - Prime Minister Julia Gillard demanded on Tuesday that Pakistan investigate and explain the brutal killing of 21,000 Australian sheep in Karachi, a slaughter officials have described as appalling.

The shipment of Australian sheep was sent to the port city after being turned away by Bahrain, with Pakistan livestock officials ordering them to be culled over disease concerns.

Graphic footage of their slaughter was aired by ABC's Four Corners programme on Monday, including images of a man sawing at a sheep's neck before throwing it into a bloody trench.

Other sheep were bulldozed into the pit after being killed last month, but some were seen the next morning still breathing, sparking angry condemnation of their treatment.