Abstract
One of the more intractable issues associated with animal law and ethics concerns responsibly regulating the slaughter of animals according to the requirements of the Jewish religious tradition and some interpretations of the Islamic religious tradition. Most Western liberal democratic societies require animals to be stunned before slaughter to ensure they are insensible when killed. However, the Jewish tradition and many interpretations of the Islamic tradition prohibit pre-slaughter stunning. In these traditions, animals are killed according to specific religious rituals that involve cutting the animal’s throat and permitting it to exsanguinate without prior stunning. These requirements therefore come into direct conflict with Statutes, Codes and Regulations of many Western countries intending to give expression to animal welfare policies by requiring pre-slaughter stunning. However, such practices are also protected by international and domestic human rights instruments guaranteeing freedom of religious practice and expression. Recent decisions of European Courts demonstrate the difficulties that arise when countries attempt to regulate this conflict. In exploring several of these recent decisions, this article intends to outline the parameters of this conflict and to suggest a potential way forward to responsible regulation of such practices.
Highlights
One of the more intractable issues associated with animal law and ethics concerns responsibly regulating the slaughter of animals according to the requirements of the Jewish religious tradition and some interpretations of the Islamic religious tradition
In order to produce Halal and Kosher meat, ritual slaughter in the Jewish and some Islamic traditions is performed without the animals being stunned into insensibility prior to slaughter
Shechita is the term given to the Jewish religious practice of slaughtering animals and poultry in a manner that renders their meat ritually fit for consumption
Summary
At the heart of Art. 4(1) of Council Regulation (EC) 1099/2009 and associated European Union Instruments such as the Protocol 33 to the Treaty Establishing the European Union is the welfare of animals, at the point of slaughter. The FVE, noted that slaughter without stunning increases the time to loss of consciousness, sometimes up to several minutes and that during this period of consciousness the animal can be exposed to pain and suffering.14 These findings were confirmed by a Report in 2009 in Australia and New Zealand. Royal Veterinary College study demonstrated the agonies suffered by animals whose throats had been cut without stunning for halal meat production.18 Despite these inconsistent positions about the nature and extent of pain suffered by un-stunned animals at the point of slaughter, “the deeper issue that must be confronted arises from the fact that even when best commercial practices are followed, enormous numbers of animals experience pain or distress in the final period of their life regardless of whether they are killed by halal, kosher or secular methods of slaughter.”
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