Religious slaughter
of animals to produce halal and kosher meat should be banned if
more humane methods are not adopted, the leader of Britain’s vets
has said.
John Blackwell, who
took over as president elect of the British Veterinary Association
(BVA) last year, claimed killing animals by letting them bleed to
death after slitting their throats causes unnecessary
suffering.
He called on Muslims
and Jews to allow the livestock to be stunned unconscious before
they are killed.
The farm vet said
the ritual slaughter of poultry, sheep and cattle which are still
conscious should be outlawed, as it is in Denmark
“As veterinary
surgeons, it is one of the most important issues on our radar. This
is something that can be changed in an instant.,” he told
The
Times.
“The Danish
unilateral banning [was done] purely for animal welfare reasons,
which is right,” he added, insisting it was not a question of
religious freedom.
“We may well have to
go down that route. One of the Jewish politicians said it
demonstrates [that] a continuing undercurrent of anti- Semitism
still pervades Europe. That’s very emotive, isn’t it? That’s the
difficulty with engagement.”
He added: “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.”
More than 600,000
animals are bled to death in religious abattoirs in Britain every
week.
Much of the meat
produced by kosher and halal slaughterhouses is sold for use in
general food supplies, according to The Times.
It is believed the
European Commission is considering a “modified health mark scheme”
to identify meat from animals slaughtered without stunning but
Jewish campaigners, who are concerned a new labelling system could
be seen as targeting their religious practices, are working with
Muslim groups to lobby against it.
But Mr Blackwell
warned animals were suffering as a result of ritual slaughter,
based on ancient religious customs.
He said: “They will
feel the cut. They will feel the massive injury of the tissues of
the neck.
“They will perceive
the aspiration of blood they will breathe in before they lose
consciousness.”
Likening the feeling
of blood in the windpipe to the pain felt when food is swallowed
down the wrong way, he said: “When you check the lungs of these
animals there is clearly blood that has been aspirated.
“People say we are
trying to focus on the last five or six seconds of an animal’s life
when it could be 18 months old. It’s five or six seconds too
long.”
He added: "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/"
It is the first time
a veterinary leader has called for an outright ban.
The BVA’s has
previously stated its opposition to slaughter without stunning but
sought practical compromises like improved labelling.
The intervention by
Mr Blackwell will increase pressure on ministers to act against
religious slaughter.
Pressure for a ban
on religious slaughter without stunning is supported by charities
such as Compassion in World Farming and the RSPCA.
Most animals killed
for halal in Britain are stunned before slaughter but no creatures
used for kosher meat are pre-stunned.
Mr Blackwell said he
wanted a “collective meeting of minds [with religious groups] to
review the science” and agree to stun all animals, mainly using a
gun to the brain for mammals, and electric shock for
poultry.
He said: “It would
be more productive if we can have a meeting of minds rather than to
say, ‘You can’t do it’.”
Shimon Cohen of
Shechita UK which aims to educate people about Jewish slaughter
customs, said bans on kosher and halal slaughter had been designed
to drive out Jewish and Muslim populations since the 19th
century.
He questioned by the
Government was only considering labeling religious methods of
killing and not including information on non-religious slaughter
practices such as shooting, gassing, electrocution and
drowning.
He said: “I will be
seeing the Muslim Council of Britain shortly. We are at one on
this.”