The hypocrisy of the religious slaughter ban
The idea of humane slaughter is a myth and a religious slaughter ban can not end animal suffering. Going vegan can.
YESTERDAY
byMimi Bekhechi
Mimi Bekhechi is Director of International Programmes at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
On Friday, the Parliament of Wallonia in Belgium voted to accept a proposal that would ban all ritual slaughter of animals by 2019. The new law will require small animals - including chicken and sheep - to be electrically stunned before their throats are slit, which some, but not all, believe would contravene the dietary laws of Islam and Judaism, which dictate that animals must be healthy at the time of their death.
In fact, today, many animals slaughtered for the Muslim market in the UK are stunned and certified as halal by some of the many bodies responsible - as long as all other aspects of the slaughter are consistent with Islamic law. Orthodox rabbis have also accepted laws in countries such as Norway and Sweden, where stunning is required.
Conversely, in today's high-speed, mechanised "conventional" abattoirs, millions of animals are improperly stunned every year and face the fatal incision awake, alert, and terrified. In fact, if you're buying "conventional" meat - including that touted as "high-welfare", "organic", or "free-range" or carrying any other misleading label - there's no way of knowing whether the animals who were killed for it were fully conscious as their throats were cut open.
There's no question that animals in abattoirs are absolutely and understandably petrified when chains are shackled to their legs and they're hoisted upside down into the air. Birds thrash wildly in panic and excruciating pain, since their legs can break under their own weight and may be pulled out of their sockets. Research shows that when cattle and sheep are killed without prior stunning, they may only lose consciousness several unimaginably agonising seconds after their throats are cut. Animals often witness the slaughter of their companions and sense their terror.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/05/hypocrisy-religious-slaughter-ban-170507093018384.html