VISITORS to a Westgate Centre shop were subjected to a journey through an abbatoir from the point of view of a cow – sort of.

Shoppers in the newly opened Lush shop were given a chance to pick up a virtual reality headset, and experience the final moments of an animal heading for slaughter.

The initiative came from campaign group Animal Equality, which filmed the virtual reality documentary 'iAnimal: The dairy industry' in 360-degrees in slaughterhouses in Britain and Mexico last year.

The documentary is narrated by Evanna Lynch, best known for her role as Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter.

Miss Lynch said: “I just wanted to make myself as small as possible and I was thinking that must be how the animals feel, that they just want to hide, but there’s not any corner of comfort or peace in any part of their lives.”

She added: “It’s so cruel and so horrific, and if you’re spending a few dollars to support this — it’s just not worth it.

"If you’re actually paying to support this you should know where your money is going or you should take ownership of what you’re doing.

"I think it’s the passivity of most people that makes this OK, that makes it go on. And the fact that it’s all behind closed walls.”

The joint event between Oxford University Vegetarian and Vegan society and Animal Equality began yesterday at the store and finishes tomorrow.

Tony Bloomfield, from Banbury, a volunteer at Animal Equality, said the first day of the event went ‘really well’ and they had a ‘great turnout’.

He said he was a ‘staunch meat-eater’ until two years ago, when he saw a documentary about the meat and dairy industry and instantly went vegan.

He told the Oxford Mail: “People were really interested in the technology, and most people who saw it became really shocked.

“We had one lady who got really upset, she'd given up dairy, but was a meat eater, her mind really opened up, she said she wanted to put cruelty to an end.

“Other people just didn’t want to see it because they knew it would be too upsetting.

“All our events are really successful, we tend to change a lot of minds when we open people to the cruelty of the dairy industry.

Animal Equality is based in London and has offices in seven other countries.

Dr Toni Shephard, UK executive director of Animal Equality, said: “Virtual reality opens up worlds that used to be hidden from us and there is nothing more secretive than the way animals are reared and killed for food.

“Animal Equality believes people have the right to know what happens in modern farms and slaughterhouses so that consumers can make informed decisions about the food they buy.”