Ritual Slaughter

[mushroom25]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17966327
a genuine concern for animal welfare?
or religious bigotry in disguise?

[boxtops]

The numbers of animals not stunned in that report are relatively small (3%), but certainly I understood that both for halal and kosher, the beasts should be stunned first.

[B00]

Whilst I really really dislike the ritual slaughtering of animals, I think we'd do as well to see to it that the more "humane" method of obtaining out meat is properly met first.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...ngland-essex-17762872

[mushroom25]

blimey, cheale meats again - they were more famously in the news in 2001...

[jake-the-peg]

I don't think that's the case for Kosher Boxtops

There was an EU plan a year or two back to insist any meat products from animals that were not stunned prior to slaughter should be marked as such but the Jewish lobby managed to stop it.

http://www.rce.eu.com...eTable=2&lang=english

From what I've read Halal abbotoirs use stunning

[bentaxle]

You can kill or hurt anything or anyone on this planet as long as its got a religious connection infact these relgious cranks seem to think they are doing the animals a favour killing them there way ,its been going on for long enough so I don't think it will change now
Where's does the rspca stand on this

[chaptazbru]

Animals aren't religious, but they suffer all the time because people are - gets on my wick !!!!! Poor creatures.

[askyourgran]

I thought that kosher/halal methods stunned the animals first.

[chaptazbru]

But whose there to check that they do. Every now and then a horror story comes out from a slaughterhouse - see Boo's post above.

[ladybirder]

I wish they were gran but they aren't.

Here is what the RSPCA are doing.

[i] What is the RSPCA doing about religious slaughter?
We recognise that religious beliefs and practices should be respected. We also believe that it is important to ensure that animals are slaughtered under the most humane conditions possible.

Scientific research has clearly shown that slaughter of an animal without stunning can cause unnecessary suffering, and so we are opposed to the slaughter of any animal without first making it insensible to pain and distress.

We continue to press for changes in the law that would improve the welfare of all animals at the time of slaughter. Until this occurs, we propose the following.

The Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK should review their slaughter practices.

In New Zealand, for example, all animals slaughtered by the Halal method are stunned before slaughter, and all animals slaughtered by the Kosher method are stunned shortly after the cut is made in the animal’s neck. Similar progress has already been made in some abattoirs in the UK and this should be extended to cover all animals slaughtered by religious methods.

All meat produced from animals that have not been stunned before slaughter should be clearly labelled, so that consumers can choose whether or not to eat / buy it.

If you share our concerns about animal welfare at slaughter, you may be interested to know more about how you can help. [i]

At the very least I wish they would label meat when the creature has not been stunned first. It is a nightmare trying to get any info.

[emmie]

i avoid any where that does halal, no matter whether they insist the animal has been stunned, how would you know. They same can be true of any butcher i know, as a method of despatching the animals. But there should be clear and unequivocal labelling what food is halal, and that means in all places, restaurants, cafes, supermarkets.

[ladybirder]

Em, as you say, how can they possibly know. They say what they know you want to hear.
If it's in a pie or any ready-made meal then my default position is not to buy as I have no idea how the animal met its death. I asked the butcher in my local Garden Centre if his meat was killed by the Halal method and he didn't know, so I didn't buy. It's a nightmare trying to get any information out of the supermarkets, ie Waitrose, so I find myself eating fewer and fewer meals using meat or poultry. And I love meat but I care about animals as well. Identifying unstunned meat by labelling would be a good start.

We are supposed to be the most intelligent species on earth but I sometimes despair at our stewardship of it and I don't just mean our treatment of animals.