Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2574456/Stop-slashing-animals-throats-ritual-slaughters-halal-kosher-meat-says-new-leader-Britains-vets.html  

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/06/reform-of-kosher-and-halal-slaughter-practices  

Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian

UK Top vet calls for reform of kosher and halal slaughter practices

President-elect of the British Veterinary Association says more emphasis on animal welfare is needed

The Guardian, Thursday 6 March 2014

There is an exemption for religious groups allowing them to slaughter animals in accordance with their religious beliefs.

A total ban on killing animals without stunning them first might not be far off if religious groups cannot agree a more humane way of slaughter soon, a top vet has said.

The president-elect of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) John Blackwell said he wanted to discuss the issue with Jewish and Muslim groups in order to find a compromise that puts more emphasis on the welfare of the animal.

“I don’t think an outright ban is a long way off, there is enough of a view that this practice is inhumane and causes suffering at the time of death,” said Blackwell.

His comments are likely to cause anger among religious groups whose teachings recommend or require the slaughter of animals without stunning them first – including Jews and Muslims.

Blackwell said the BVA had not strayed into religious discussions while campaigning for the changes in the past, but that he was happy to talk to religious groups.

“We have tried to keep it out of the religious sphere. It is not an attack on religious faith, it is a view that we have taken on animal welfare,” Blackwell said.

He said that there was currently an exemption for religious groups that allowed them to slaughter animals that makes their meat halal or kosher in accordance with their religious beliefs.

But he said that the debate should be “moved forward so that the animals are stunned” before being killed. And he said that the BVA would like a “collective meeting of minds [with religious groups] to review the science”.

He acknowledged that there were likely to be “sensitivities surrounding the issue”, but said that the debate was preferable to relying on “beliefs handed down hundreds of years ago, that may have been true at the time”.

Blackwell also raised the prospect of labelling on food products to make it clearer the methods that were used in the slaughter of the animals. He said that doing so would give consumers a better, more informed choice.

The chief rabbi and the Muslim Council of Britain did not respond to requests for comment.

Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional |