Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

 

The following petition is for UK residents only, as it calls for a complete ban on ritual slaughter within the UK.  To support this you need to be a  UK resident – Thank you SAV.

 

www.bit.ly/stunB4slaughter 

 

BVA LAUNCHES PETITION TO END NON-STUN SLAUGHTER

The campaign to end non-stun slaughter to improve animal welfare at the time of death has been stepped up with the launch of a government epetition by the British Veterinary Association (BVA), with the support of the RSPCA, at www.bit.ly/stunB4slaughter.

European and UK legislation requires all animals to be stunned before slaughter to render them insensible to pain. However, a derogation in the legislation allows animals to be slaughtered without stunning for certain religious communities – Dhabihah slaughter for Halal food and Shechita slaughter for Kosher food. It is important to note that over 80% of Halal slaughter in the UK is pre-stunned.

Scientific evidence shows that slaughter without pre-stunning compromises animal welfare; a position supported by the Humane Slaughter Association, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe. BVA and RSPCA are therefore renewing their call for an end to the practice.

BVA is also concerned that meat from non-stun slaughter is entering the market unlabelled because there is no requirement to label meat and meat products with the method of slaughter. The hindquarters of animals killed by the Shechita method are not Kosher and therefore enter the mainstream market unlabelled.

With animal welfare high on the list of UK consumer concerns BVA and RSPCA are calling for clearer labelling so that people can make an informed choice.

BVA hopes to achieve 100,000 signatures to the epetition so that consideration will be given to a debate in the House of Commons.

 

Launching the epetition BVA President and veterinary surgeon Robin Hargreaves said:

 

“BVA has long believed that slaughter without pre-stunning unnecessarily compromise animal welfare at the time of death. It affects millions of animals every year and action is long overdue.

“When the issue hit the headlines recently we were overwhelmed by the letters of support from members of the public as well as our own members, so we hope to get a lot of support for our campaign.”

 

David Bowles, RSPCA head of public affairs, said:

 

“We are supporting the BVA’s petition calling for an end to non-stun slaughter because it is a practice that can cause suffering to millions of farm animals in the UK.

“We recognise that religious belief and practices should be respected but we also believe that animals should be slaughtered in the most humane way possible.

“Non-stun slaughter can result in the animals experiencing very significant pain and distress and that is why we feel more needs to be done to end this suffering.”

It is important to note that the campaign does not relate to the expression of religious belief but to concern about animal welfare.

 

ENDS

 

Notes to editors

 

1. The epetition is online at www.bit.ly/stunB4slaughter. The full text of the epetition is:

 

End non-stun slaughter to promote animal welfare

 

We call for an end to slaughter without pre-stunning for all animals. EU and UK law requires all animals to be pre-stunned before slaughter to render them insensible to pain until death supervenes. But non-stun slaughter is permitted for certain communities.

We support BVA, RSPCA, HSA, FAWC and FVE who conclude that scientific evidence shows that non-stun slaughter allows animals to perceive pain and compromises welfare.

We must differentiate between religious and non-stun slaughter. Our concern does not relate to religious belief but to the animal welfare compromise of non-stun slaughter.

We note

over 80% of UK Halal slaughter is pre-stunned

hindquarters of animals killed by (non-stun) Shechita can enter the market unlabelled

While non-stun slaughter is permitted we call for clearer slaughter-method labelling and post-cut stunning to improve welfare.

Non-stun slaughter affects millions of animals. We support a good life and a humane death for all animals.

 

2. The 2011 Foods Standards Agency animal welfare survey in Great Britain found that in September 2011:

– 16% of Halal cattle slaughter was not pre-stunned; 1% was post-cut stunned

– 12% of Halal poultry slaughter was not pre-stunned; none was post-cut stunned

– 19% of Halal sheep/goat slaughter was not pre-stunned; 1% was post-cut stunned

– 100% of Shechita slaughter of cattle, poultry and sheep/goats was not pre-stunned; 10% of cattle was post-cut stunned.

 

See table available on the Channel 4 Fact Check blog for more detail at http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-qa-ban-kosher-halal-slaughter/17877

 

3. BVA has recently released official figures on mis-stunning in conventional slaughter. More information is available at: http://www.bva.co.uk/news/3755.aspx

 

4. BVA (@BritishVets) and RSPCA (@RSPCA_official) will be tweeting using the hashtag #stunB4slaughter

 

5. For more information please contact the BVA Media Office on 020 7908 6340 or media@bva.co.uk

Sally Burnell

Head of Media and PR
British Veterinary Association
020 7908 6341
Out of hours: 07503 190 247
sallyb@bva.co.uk

Have you visited BVA’s new online newsroom yet? www.bva.co.uk/news

7 Mansfield Street, London W1G 9NQ
Switchboard: 020 7636 6541
Fax: 020 7908 6349
Media Office: 020 7908 6340 or media@bva.co.uk
www.bva.co.uk

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Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, GLOBAL PETITIONS - Anything Animal, Anywhere ! |