POLICE zapped a runaway sheep that was blocking traffic with a Taser stun gun, a weapon issued for use in violent situations.

Motorists trapped in the traffic jam caused when the sheep got out of a field in north Wales in Britain were horrified to see the sheep stunned by police then carried to the side of the road where it continued to convulse, the Daily Mail reported.

They and animal welfare advocates say police did not have to use the weapon on a defenceless sheep.

But officers said they had to prevent the ram "causing major disruption and possible danger to motorists" on the A55, the Mail reported.

Motorist Mark Faulkes said his 13-year-old daughter Amy was distressed after seeing the sheep Tasered.

"We came across a traffic jam and we saw there was a sheep in the road. Everyone had stopped their cars and a few people had got out and were trying to herd the sheep away from the carriageway.

"The police then arrived and they went towards the sheep but it moved away from them. Then one of the officers got out his Taser gun and fired it at the sheep. Then he carried it to the side of the carriageway.

"Amy was very distressed. I don't know if the sheep was all right. When we left it was lying by the side of the road, shaking.

"I thought it was excessive to use a Taser on a defenceless sheep," he said.

A north Wales police spokeswoman said Sparky, as the sheep was nicknamed by locals afterwards, was unhurt.

Police departments use the x26 Taser to shock unruly suspects into submission, but Lorain residents are stunned that an officer used one on a school bus to subdue to 12-year-old boy, reported NewsChannel5.

According to the police report, police were called to remove the boy from the bus after he tried to steal another boy's CD case.

Police Capt. Russ Cambarare said the boy cussed at the officers and then threatened her.

"Then he made a threat that he was going to kill her, he bucked his head backwards and hit her on the chin and broke one of his arms free," said Cambarare.

a 12-year-old girl... was skipping school was found drinking and smoking in a swimming pool, Miami-Dade police officer William Nelson stated in an incident report. He said he responded to an anonymous call about the activities.

He said he told the girl he was taking her to school. As they walked to the police car, she ran away.

"I advised her to stop several times," he said in the report. She "continued running even to the point of starting to run into lanes of traffic."

Nelson said he used the Taser for his and the girl's safety, striking her in the base of the neck and lower right back.

The girl was released into her mother's custody and taken to a doctor.

"I couldn't breathe, and I was, like, nervous, and I was scared at the same time," the girl told CNN.

About two weeks earlier, a first-grader was shot with a Taser at school when he threatened to cut his leg with a piece of broken glass, authorities said. The boy's family said he vomited after the jolt.

"If there's three officers, it's nothing to tell a 6-year-old holding a glass, if you feel threatened, 'Hey, here's a piece of candy, hey, here's a toy. Let the glass go,'" the boy's mother told CNN.

But police insisted using the gun was the only option.