Shocking new pictures show the terror and anguish of the Siberian red deer as an electric saw is used with no anaesthetic to cut off their magnificent velvet antlers, which are made from fast-growing bone.

Russians of both sexes bathe in the blood at farms where the deer are bred in the remote Altai Mountains, convinced it is a testosterone-driven elixir. 

Antlers and blood are exported to South Korea and other Asian countries for use in a range of traditional remedies but especially to boost flagging libidos in middle-aged and elderly men.

Blood from the deer is also used for remedies that claim to slow down the ageing process in women. 

The disturbing images show how the animals are herded into a special cutting chamber where a press 'closes in on the stag from each side, while the floor lowers, so the deer is left in suspended animation, its head thrust onto a ledge as if condemned to the guillotine, its hooves flailing but unable to touch the ground', reported The Siberian Times, which disclosed the images.

Observers say the creatures are 'bewildered' and 'shell-shocked', their eyes 'bulging with fright' .

The pictures show how 'four or five men are inside the cutting chamber, cursing loudly with Russian swear words, evidently to intimidate the animal into submission.

'Two or three stand on the stag's back from above, one holds the prized antlers, his trainer on the animal's muzzle, immobilising the head. One cuts the antlers, his foot on the back of the neck, preventing the beast moving a centimetre until it is divested of its valuable trophy.

'A rope leashed to the antler is held fast by another man outside the cutting shed.'

The cutting is over in seconds but the distressed deer moan and shriek as the process is underway.

One farm hand called Mikhail called the slicing off of the antlers 'equal in feeling to your hand being chopped off', but other workers claimed it was more like nails being cut.

The reaction of the animals suggests it is 'agonising'.

As well as losing their prized antlers, an incision is made into the stag's jugular vein to remove three litres of precious blood.

A coagulating powder and clay is daubed on the open wounds to stop the bleeding, while the antlers are heated and cooled, dipped in and out of hot water, in an age-old process to preserve them for export to traditional markets.

The cutters swig the blood which they see as a 'natural Viagra'.

The key derivative from the antlers is Pantocrin, on which many 'cures' and even alcoholic drinks are based.

The antlers grow back, and a year later the stag will be put through the same ordeal again.

Irina Novozhilova, president of Russian Animal Protection Centre 'Vita', said of the antler cutting: 'It is a painful operation for an animal, and painkilling is necessary.

'Doing it regularly, without anaesthesia like on these farms, breeding animals for the purpose of this regular painful antler removal - all this sounds totally abnormal to me.

'It seems barbarian. And look at those blood baths. This is manipulating nature, without any sense.

'It is a pure example of a cruel attitude to animals.'

She suggested the process was medieval, saying: 'It is strange that we are discussing this matter in the 21st Century, because the faith in the effectiveness of this medicine made from antlers comes from ancient times.

But at Novotalitskoye Farm, 395 miles south of Siberia's largest city, Novosibirsk, around 4,000 Maral deer, including 2,000 stags, are bred especially to serve this remedy industry.

Annually about 3,000 specially preserved antlers - costing £190 per kilogram - are exported, primarily to South Korea.

The antlers grow at a phenomenal rate, as much as 2.5 cm (1 inch) a day. They often reach 71 cm (28 inches) in total length but can grow much larger, for example to 115 cm (45 inches).

 You feel euphoric after the first bath, like you are flying

Guesthouse owner Larisa Pastukhova

In the past, hunters and poachers killed the Maral deer virtually leading to extinction among this Altai sub-species but now the antlers are seen as a 'renewable' resource. A good stag will produce new antlers for 15 or more years.

The farm's website boasts: 'Extract from red deer antlers acts as a strong tonic, especially for men's potency. It strengthens the body's bones, muscles, teeth, eye sight and hearing, cures pleurisy, pneumonia, asthma, joint pain, osteoporosis, and problems with the spine.'

Relaxing in a blood bath, Larisa Pastukhova, 44, who runs a guest house offering baths to health tourists, is adamant about the health benefits of the baths.

'You feel euphoric after the first bath, like you are flying,' she insisted, as she posed in a tub seeking to show its benefits.

'After a second bath symptoms of some chronic diseases which you have - if you do - get stronger, to then be healed.

'For example, my 65-year-old mother had issues with her joints, and doctors told her she would face real problems unless she had surgery.

(dailymail.co.uk)