Leading vet criticises ritual slaughter of animals

[heathcliff]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17966327

A leading vet has criticised the "unacceptable" rise in the number of animals killed in ritual slaughter.

Ritual slaughter is lawful in the UK and the EU to satisfy the dietary requirements of Jews and Muslims.

Prof Bill Reilly, former president of the British Veterinary Association, said estimates suggested more animals were slaughtered than was necessary.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said its own figures showed most animals were stunned before being killed.

The FSA conducted a survey into animal welfare in slaughterhouses in September.

A spokesman said: "The results indicate that the number of animals not stunned prior to slaughter is relatively low, accounting for 3% of cattle, 10% of sheep and goats, and 4% of poultry.

"They also show that the majority of animals destined for the halal trade in both the red and white meat sectors are stunned before slaughter."

The FSA said full details of the survey would be published ahead of a discussion at a board meeting on 22 May.

But Prof Reilly, writing in the Veterinary Record, said: "In my view, the current situation is not acceptable and, if we cannot eliminate non-stunning, we need to keep it to the minimum.

"This means restricting the use of halal and kosher meat to those communities that require it for their religious beliefs and, where possible, convincing them of the acceptability of the stunned alternatives."

He suggested some abattoirs might be refusing to stun animals simply to cut costs.

UK legislation allows halal (Muslim) or shechita (Jewish) "non-stun" slaughter as long as it does not cause "unnecessary suffering".

But Prof Reilly said he witnessed shechita slaughter in the 1970s and he wrote: "The distress, fear and pain were there for all to see in the abattoir."

Prof Reilly said his own estimates suggested around two million animals, mostly poultry, were killed in the UK each year without stunning for the orthodox Jewish community.


Halal meat now accounted for 25% of the entire UK meat market, Prof Reilly added. Anecdotal evidence suggested that almost half of lambs destined for slaughter were killed without prior stunning.

Joyce D'Silva, from the charity Compassion in World Farming (CWF), said: "Judaism and Islam believe that animals are creatures of God; science tells us that they are sentient beings, who can suffer.

"If you hold either view, or both, then your principle concern must be to ensure the least possible suffering for the animal concerned.

"Therefore animals should be handled with care and stunned effectively before their throats are cut in order to minimise their distress and pain.

"Consumers should be able to tell how the animals they eat are reared, transported and slaughtered," he added.

Under Jewish and Islamic law, animals for slaughter must be healthy and uninjured at the time of death, which rules out driving a bolt into the brain - though some Muslim authorities accept forms of stunning that can be guaranteed not to kill the animal.

Both faiths adhere to a one-cut method of slaughter and insist it is humane because the animal quickly loses consciousness, bleeding to death.

Good man, glad he's spoken out. It's time this barbaric practice was stopped. Animals shouldn't be killed and made to suffer in the name of fairy tale, fake gods.

[mk_ultra]

I don't understand why it is anymore barbaric than how they are normally killed, as soon as you cut one of the carotid arteries the animal will instantly loose consciousness due the massive and sudden drop in blood pressure, so actually it is quite a humane way to kill an animal.

[lord tsukasa]

I don't think there is any humane way to kill an animal.

I am strongly against the consumption of meat (wait for "dur hurr vegetarians are part of the liberal NWO!!!111"), but at least that results in hungry people being fed.

Ritual slaughter is just religious people taking away an innocent creature's life as part of their devotion to stupid bullshit. Whether they be Jews or Muslims, anyone who believes that they are somehow currying favor with the Creator by slaughtering one of it's creations is a fucking moron.

[heathcliff]

Originally Posted by mk_ultra

I don't understand why it is anymore barbaric than how they are normally killed, as soon as you cut one of the carotid arteries the animal will instantly loose consciousness due the massive and sudden drop in blood pressure, so actually it is quite a humane way to kill an animal.

It's a pathetic way to kill an animal; in the name of some fictional person that lives in the sky. Please?

I'll put my hands up and admit to being a hypocrite - I eat meat, not much, but I do. I do think that you should only eat it if you're prepared to catch, kill, prepare and not waste any of it yourself though. Unfortunately, in central London, it isn't possible for me to do that. . . although I have done a butchery course so I'd feel confident if I had to.

[mk_ultra]

Originally Posted by lord tsukasa

I don't think there is any humane way to kill an animal.

I am strongly against the consumption of meat (wait for "dur hurr vegetarians are part of the liberal NWO!!!111"), but at least that results in hungry people being fed.

Ritual slaughter is just religious people taking away an innocent creature's life as part of their devotion to stupid bullshit. Whether they be Jews or Muslims, anyone who believes that they are somehow currying favor with the Creator by slaughtering one of it's creations is a fucking moron.

I am pretty sure the animal in this instance is being slaughtered for consumption, and certain religions require it to be done in certain ways to enable them to eat it. So they are not killing the animal just to curry favour with their God, they are killing the animal because they wish to eat it, but their religion require that they kill the animal in a certain manner to avoid suffering and respect the fact the animal is giving up its life to enable their life to continue.

I am no expert on the matter so I could have misunderstood the reasoning behind Kosher meat.

[ming the merciless]

They cut the upside down animal's throat and blood starts draining out of THE BODY. The head is still full of oxygenated blood.

Even if it were not, it is debatable how long such a brain can last and think. Decay starts happening after five minutes without oxygen but the brain continues to live, think and fear. Ten minutes brain cells are dying, as they still are at the fifteen minute mark but dying brain cells does not mean a dead brain.

So while the animal hangs upside down, alive, it suffers pain and is in a period of intense fear for upto tens of minutes, so yes, ritual slaughter is a barbaric practice carried out by barbaric people.

And you can eat such cruelly slaughtered meat at fast food outlets and maybe even your local butcher as politicians, animal rights people and others butt kiss muslims and jews.

[octopusrex]

I am far more worried about Factory Farms and McDonnalds.
People need to wake up!

[mk_ultra]

Originally Posted by ming the merciless

They cut the upside down animal's throat and blood starts draining out of THE BODY. The head is still full of oxygenated blood.

Even if it were not, it is debatable how long such a brain can last and think. Decay starts happening after five minutes without oxygen but the brain continues to live, think and fear. Ten minutes brain cells are dying, as they still are at the fifteen minute mark but dying brain cells does not mean a dead brain.

So while the animal hangs upside down, alive, it suffers pain and is in a period of intense fear for upto tens of minutes, so yes, ritual slaughter is a barbaric practice carried out by barbaric people.

And you can eat such cruelly slaughtered meat at fast food outlets and maybe even your local butcher as politicians, animal rights people and others butt kiss muslims and jews.

The massive drop in blood pressure will cause the animal to loose consciousness, even if oxygenated blood remains in the head the animal will have lost conciousness and thus feel no pain. Certainly Kosher meat is killed in such a way that all critical veins, arteries and nerves are severed in an instant, the slaughter is done by a professional and the tools are kept in excellent condition. If any of the strict criteria are not met then the meat is not "Kosher" and cannot be consumed.

The Kosher method is certainly one of the more humane ways to kill an animal. The real issue is that we eat too much meat and animals are bred to the point of deformity and factory farmed to satisfy our excessive requirement for meat.

Whenever an animal is slaughtered it's going to feel some distress and pain regardless of how you kill it. So it's more important to reduce the number of animals this happens to and prevent animals being bred to carry more muscle than is healthy for them to carry. Meat can be part of a healthy diet, but not in the amounts so frequently consumed.

[elfin]

Originally Posted by ming the merciless

They cut the upside down animal's throat and blood starts draining out of THE BODY. The head is still full of oxygenated blood.

Even if it were not, it is debatable how long such a brain can last and think. Decay starts happening after five minutes without oxygen but the brain continues to live, think and fear. Ten minutes brain cells are dying, as they still are at the fifteen minute mark but dying brain cells does not mean a dead brain.

So while the animal hangs upside down, alive, it suffers pain and is in a period of intense fear for upto tens of minutes, so yes, ritual slaughter is a barbaric practice carried out by barbaric people.

And you can eat such cruelly slaughtered meat at fast food outlets and maybe even your local butcher as politicians, animal rights people and others butt kiss muslims and jews.

Agreed. Laws should not be by-passed in the name of religion, especially laws that protect animals from unnecessary suffering.

[alf hearted]

If it was humane or merciful they'd use it as an execution method for humans too... oh wait... some of these religious nuts do.

[stevie0013]

People on here whine about animal cruelty & then go & eat a bacon sandwich, how lame

[elfin]

Originally Posted by stevie0013

People on here whine about animal cruelty & then go & eat a bacon sandwich, how lame

Personally, I don't eat meat at all but for those who choose to the onus is upon them to make sure the animals that are slaughtered to fill their bellies are killed in the quickest, most painless way possible.

[hadaka_jimmy]

Originally Posted by mk_ultra

I don't understand why it is anymore barbaric than how they are normally killed, as soon as you cut one of the carotid arteries the animal will instantly loose consciousness due the massive and sudden drop in blood pressure, so actually it is quite a humane way to kill an animal.

MK Ultra is a apt username.

[hadaka_jimmy]

Originally Posted by stevie0013

People on here whine about animal cruelty & then go & eat a bacon sandwich, how lame

Not me.

Why do you think you're more special than a cow or a pig?

Serious question.

[mk_ultra]

Originally Posted by hadaka_jimmy

MK Ultra is a apt username.

Why? Because I think that breeding animals to the point of deformity, consuming too much meat and farming animals as a commodity is wrong?

I personally think that we need to reduce the number of animals being killed, rather than making the killing supposedly "more humane" so we can carry on killing animals in obscene numbers to the detriment of our dietary health.

But if you'd rather make destructive comments than make a constructive contribution to the topic that is your freedom and right to do so.

[picha]

I have seen youtube videos of it getting done. I dont think the instant loss of consciousness theory is correct. I have seen cows getting thrown out of the throat cutting machine and then they try and get back up again for about 10 seconds before they finally collapse. The bolt though the brain method looked the least cruel because they just collapse straight away.

[hadaka_jimmy]

Originally Posted by mk_ultra

Why? Because I think that breeding animals to the point of deformity, consuming too much meat and farming animals as a commodity is wrong?

I personally think that we need to reduce the number of animals being killed, rather than making the killing supposedly "more humane" so we can carry on killing animals in obscene numbers to the detriment of our dietary health.

But if you'd rather make destructive comments than make a constructive contribution to the topic that is your freedom and right to do so.

Murder of all animals is morally wrong, it's frankly disgusting no matter how it's performed. Obviously you like your deformed chickens from KFC.

[mk_ultra]

Originally Posted by mk_ultra

...Because I think that breeding animals to the point of deformity, consuming too much meat and farming animals as a commodity is wrong?

Originally Posted by mk_ultra

Whenever an animal is slaughtered it's going to feel some distress and pain regardless of how you kill it. So it's more important to reduce the number of animals this happens to and prevent animals being bred to carry more muscle than is healthy for them to carry. Meat can be part of a healthy diet, but not in the amounts so frequently consumed.

Originally Posted by hadaka_jimmy

Murder of all animals is morally wrong, it's frankly disgusting no matter how it's performed. Obviously you like your deformed chickens from KFC.

I say I think that breeding animals to the point of deformity, consuming too much meat and farming animals as a commodity is wrong. From that statement you determine that I'd like deformed chickens from KFC?

Well from your posts I can determine that you either didn't read a word I said, you're retarded, you're a troll or a combination of the three. therefore as this seems to be moving in a direction which isn't constructive I'll leave it at that.