Lambs to the slaughter (Halal, not Dahl)

[tikay]

WARNING - this content may offend.

[tikay]

:: A worker hacking and sawing at animals' throats, in direct contravention of Islamic practice. In one instance it took up to five attempts to sever blood vessels.
 
:: Sheep being kicked in the face and head, lifted by their ears, fleeces or legs, and hurled into solid structures.
 
:: A worker standing on the neck of a conscious sheep and bouncing up and down.
 
:: Staff erupting into laughter over a sheep bleeding to death with spectacles drawn around her eyes in green paint.
 
:: Staff taunting and frightening animals by waving knives, smacking them on the head and shouting at them.
 
:: A worker holding a sheep by the throat and pulling back his fist as if to deliver a punch.



http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/national/11766565.print/

[kinboshi]

No stun slaughter should be banned. There's no reason not to.

That aside, the acts described in that slaughter house are just abuse.

[tikay]

No stun slaughter should be banned. There's no reason not to.

That aside, the acts described in that slaughter house are just abuse.

There is a reason. That's not to say it is justified, but "non-stun" slaughter is done for a reason.


In the UK, Jewish and Muslim communities are exempt from legal requirements to stun animals before slaughter. Shechita (Jewish) and Halal (Muslim) slaughter methods involve cutting the animal’s throat with a very sharp knife, often without pre-stunning

[Jon MW]

No stun slaughter should be banned. There's no reason not to.

That aside, the acts described in that slaughter house are just abuse.

There is a reason. That's not to say it is justified, but "non-stun" slaughter is done for a reason.


In the UK, Jewish and Muslim communities are exempt from legal requirements to stun animals before slaughter. Shechita (Jewish) and Halal (Muslim) slaughter methods involve cutting the animal’s throat with a very sharp knife, often without pre-stunning

We know - but as Kinboshi said - there's no reason not to.

[tikay]

No stun slaughter should be banned. There's no reason not to.

That aside, the acts described in that slaughter house are just abuse.

There is a reason. That's not to say it is justified, but "non-stun" slaughter is done for a reason.


In the UK, Jewish and Muslim communities are exempt from legal requirements to stun animals before slaughter. Shechita (Jewish) and Halal (Muslim) slaughter methods involve cutting the animal’s throat with a very sharp knife, often without pre-stunning

We know - but as Kinboshi said - there's no reason not to.

There is a reason - its a religious belief. I'm not saying I agree with it, that's altogether a different matter, but there IS a reason. 

That reason may well be wrong, but that's not the point.

 

[teddybloat]

Hacking at little boys penises, animals throats, journalists heads.

"I do it cos I is superstituous, innit".

Not good enough I'm afraid.

Is calling religion a plague on civilisation an over-reaction? Maybe.

Maybe not, though.

[Doobs]

No stun slaughter should be banned. There's no reason not to.

That aside, the acts described in that slaughter house are just abuse.

This abuse crops up in some slaughter houses every so often.  If the fact abuse sometimes happens in a slaughter house is a reason to ban no stub slaughter then it is also a reason to ban all animal slaughter. 

When done correctly there is little difference in the two forms of slaughter from the animals point of view. 

[Woodsey]

Went into one of the big sainsburys the other day and was looking for a bag of frozen chicken drumsticks/thighs etc. Wanted frozen so I could keep them and use them over a period of time. I was pretty surprised to find they only had halal version of that. Not bothered if shops want to sell halal stuff, but for a basic item like that they should at least be selling the normal version of it. If they only stock one version it should be the normal version unless it's in Bradford or somewhere like that with a large muslim population, Beeston doesn't. The visible minority around here is Chinese, mostly of the student variety.

[Jon MW]

I think I read somewhere that most Halal meat has animals stunned before they're slaughtered anyway.

That and rules concerning alcohol show that some parts of Islam can recognise that the modern world means you can relax on some of the ancient world ideas - it's a shame it's not more comprehensive over more areas of faith.

[kinboshi]

No stun slaughter should be banned. There's no reason not to.

That aside, the acts described in that slaughter house are just abuse.

There is a reason. That's not to say it is justified, but "non-stun" slaughter is done for a reason.


In the UK, Jewish and Muslim communities are exempt from legal requirements to stun animals before slaughter. Shechita (Jewish) and Halal (Muslim) slaughter methods involve cutting the animal’s throat with a very sharp knife, often without pre-stunning

We know - but as Kinboshi said - there's no reason not to.

There is a reason - its a religious belief. I'm not saying I agree with it, that's altogether a different matter, but there IS a reason. 

That reason may well be wrong, but that's not the point.

 

That's religious belief - it's not REASON.  In fact, it's the opposite of reason.

Hindus are vegetarians, does that mean we should ban the slaughter and eating of meat in the UK?

Kosher and Hahal slaughter made sense thousands of years ago.  It was good housekeeping in the days before refrigeration, germ theory and other scientific advances.  It's a relic of history that is retained because an old book says it should be.

[RED-DOG]

No stun slaughter should be banned. There's no reason not to.

That aside, the acts described in that slaughter house are just abuse.

This abuse crops up in some slaughter houses every so often.  If the fact abuse sometimes happens in a slaughter house is a reason to ban no stub slaughter then it is also a reason to ban all animal slaughter. 

When done correctly there is little difference in the two forms of slaughter from the animals point of view. 

This.

In calm, unthreatening surroundings, having a vein opened by someone who is compassionate and good at his job is a very easy death.

I've seen it done and the animal just went gently to sleep, unaware of what was happening.

[Jon MW]

No stun slaughter should be banned. There's no reason not to.

That aside, the acts described in that slaughter house are just abuse.

This abuse crops up in some slaughter houses every so often.  If the fact abuse sometimes happens in a slaughter house is a reason to ban no stub slaughter then it is also a reason to ban all animal slaughter. 

When done correctly there is little difference in the two forms of slaughter from the animals point of view. 

This.

In calm, unthreatening surroundings, having a vein opened by someone who is compassionate and good at his job is a very easy death.

I've seen it done and the animal just went gently to sleep, unaware of what was happening.

I'm sure that's the case for individual animals - and possibly the case for when you needed to butcher for a village; but I don't expect it to be particularly possible on an industrial scale.

[RED-DOG]

No stun slaughter should be banned. There's no reason not to.

That aside, the acts described in that slaughter house are just abuse.

This abuse crops up in some slaughter houses every so often.  If the fact abuse sometimes happens in a slaughter house is a reason to ban no stub slaughter then it is also a reason to ban all animal slaughter. 

When done correctly there is little difference in the two forms of slaughter from the animals point of view. 

This.

In calm, unthreatening surroundings, having a vein opened by someone who is compassionate and good at his job is a very easy death.

I've seen it done and the animal just went gently to sleep, unaware of what was happening.

I'm sure that's the case for individual animals - and possibly the case for when you needed to butcher for a village; but I don't expect it to be particularly possible on an industrial scale.

Exactly right.

Whatever the method of killing, an atmosphere of fear and the smell of death pervade all industrial slaughter houses.


In general, it was better when local butchers were allowed to kill their own. IMO of course.

[Nakor]

Being involved in Animal Slaughter I am somewhat surprised at the footage and the amount of false information flying around today.  Animal slaughter in general is so well controlled and moderated I am quite shocked that practices shown in the footage were "allowed".  However having been at a company that was stung by this sort of undercover footage in the past I would like to think it is an isolated incident - not that excuses the footage at all.

Halal Slaughter is allowed under stunned conditions as long as the Stun does just that and does not end the life of the animal.  The Welfare of Animal (Slaughter and Killing) Act 1995 backs this up as do subsequent parliamentary notes.

As a business "we" have always avoided Halal Slaughter due to the associated constraints rather the actual slaughter process.

Jewish slaughter is different but is not a field I have ever looked into in any detail, but believe slaughter under stun is not allowed still.

Tom hits the nail on the head when he comments on the surroundings being calm etc - every slaughter house I have ever visited is exactly that, and although we moan about the big retailers they have driven huge improvements in animal welfare and slaughter procedure over the last 10 years, particularly M&S and Tesco. Obviously the vast majority of Halal meat is not sold by these avenues which means the slaughterhouse involved is likely to be more self regulated, but it will still have independent vets on site and vast reams of process and procedure to prove compliance too.

The sad fact is its mistreatment of animals, the associated practice is kind of irrelevant.