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Debate Over Ritual Slaughter Misses The Point
To Stun or Not To Stun… Is This Really The Question?
WARNING: Contains graphic imagery
I saw in the news recently that Conservative MP Chris Loder is planning to lay an amendment to the new kept animals bill later this month, which would be aimed at reducing the number of animals slaughtered for meat without being stunned first.
It seems that Loder’s proposed move has the support from a number of MPs, as well as a large proportion of the UK population, who are naturally uncomfortable with the idea that literally millions of animals are slaughtered every year in the UK without being stunned first.
To put this in context, I want to look at what it means in reality for an animal to be slaughtered without stunning. Essentially, it means that an animal is restrained and has their throat slit whilst fully conscious.
I want you to take a moment to just imagine yourself in that animal’s place and try to get a feeling of what it might feel like to be on the wrong end of the knife. Remember that up to this point, like the overwhelming majority of these animals, you have not had a very good experience of humans. The only contact you have had, whether with farmers, farm workers, truck drivers, handlers and so on, has been unkind at best and…
