The following is from the BBC:
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.
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.”
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2 Responses
The bottom line is that he is trying to impose his religion of “animal welfare” on people who don’t subscribe to it. Neither Jews nor Moslems have any interest in forcing everyone to follow their preferred method of slaughter, but Reilly and his fellow animalists are after exactly that. He has to accept that not everyone shares his beliefs, and those who don’t are entitled to equal treatment from the law.
Perhaps Prof. Reilly was referring to his own stress, fear, and pain.