Disturbing trend in slaughter methods

[Catherine]

I had no idea how to name this thread. Slaughter methods are not great at the best of times.
However with an increase in Ritual slaughter methods there is an increase in the practice of killing a fully conscious animal. The stunning practices are inadequate, but these methods want to omit them altogether.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/hom...12559.html

I am having trouble grasping why it matters that the animal be awake and aware when it is killed. How is this more spiritual?
It is certainly not better for the animal.

[Tobi]

This is deeply sad. At least, thank goodness there has been some decline in the Jewish rituals of slaughter for 'Kosher' meat. Maybe some glimmer of compassion (or possibly, animal welfare legislation imposed by World trends) -has got through the religious heartlessness there, at least. But some religions are very stubborn.

I actually would like to go so far as to say that some religious practices are worse than 'lacking in compassion and spirituality' and instead are psychopathological in nature. And adherents blindly follow......

[LPC]

I agree with you both. It is quite erroneous to claim that any deity, which is normally endowed by its followers with qualities of love and compassion, would wish to see its own creations have their throats slit whilst fully conscious and suffer extreme pain. Does "God", or whatever other word one might choose for a supreme power, insist of His followers that animals must suffer for the sake of religion? If that is organised religion, I want none of it.

Interestingly, Sikhs adopt a very compassionate attitude on this issue. They are actually forbidden in their religion to eat any meat which has been ritually slaughtered in that way. Mind you, most of them are vegetarians, anyway. If that is taken as an example of organised religion, then I am more sympathetic.

People have the right to believe whatever they wish in terms of religion (or not to believe), but that that does not override the principles of love and compassion for all creatures, without which there is little hope for the human race. Freedom of religion does not give the freedom to impose widespread suffering on other inhabitants of this planet.

BTW I have had some personal experience of this issue. When we had a flock of sheep and the numbers became too great for the land space, I advertised the rams (mostly) for sale - but always specified "for reproduction only" (i.e. breeding). But even then, a lot of private individuals would telephone and say that wanted a ram to kill for meat. I always refused to sell in such circumstances, pointing out that the advertisement specified that they were being sold explicitly for reproduction. If people lied on the phone and they came to look at the sheep, I would question them again face to face about where the sheep would be housed after purchase. If they had no land, I knew what fate awaited the sheep concerned, so occasionally I even had to refuse at the last moment. I did not enjoy doing this, but I felt a moral responsibility for those sheep who had been born on our land. I had looked into their eyes when they had been born, watched them grow and play, seen the soul within them.

[Tobi]

You have been a good Guardian for those rams and sheep, LPC. You have done your utmost best to see that they were given a decent life and treated kindly.

Looked at from a worldwide perspective, it isn't only religion which causes cruel suffering. It is ignorance. So-called "Christians" are capable of great cruelty and ignorance when it comes to the factory farming of animals,and their intense suffering, (all for monetary 'profit' of course, and market demand) -and are capable of great blindness when it comes to what animals experience at the slaughterhouse, even with comparatively 'humane' methods in use!

And in some far Eastern countries, as we know, animals are killed in the most horrendous ways for 'good luck' on a certain date, or for some other ritualistic reason -or simply because torture and terror creates a different taste in the meat. There, we have examples of modern people soul-lessly following 'traditions' or concepts which were dreamed up centuries ago by people whose mental state left a lot to be desired. And if that isn't disturbed, foolish and ignorant, I don't know what is.

[Catherine]

That must have been worrying when you had to sell rams. I would never have thought of the danger of them being bought for slaughter.
Good thing you were aware of things.

I do not know the roots of ritual sacrifice methods. I like to think that they were meant to ensure that you did not eat carrion or a sick animal. That would be a benign interpretation. The reality is probably not so good.

No matter what you believe or why, there is no excuse for cruelty. I do not think God has ever wanted to be used as an excuse for cruelty of any kind.
I think the whole world is going to have to impose a standard of animal care and treatment. I don't think culture or religion are a good enough excuse for doing unspeakable things.

Of course we are going to need to clean up the whole factory farming mess and ban cruel foods like Foie Gras. Until we do that it is hard to point to the farming industry as the right and humane way to do things.