Disturbing footage showing "routine abuse" of sheep in a halal slaughterhouse has reignited the debate over whether animals should be stunned before they are killed for meat.
Under halal law, animals are supposed to be killed quickly by single cut from a surgically-sharp knife.
Although 80 per cent of halal meat is stunned, the number of sheep killed without stunning is rising due to campaigning by Muslims, figures show.
Secret filming in an halal abattoir in Yorkshire showed "horrifying" treatment of animals killed without stunning.
Workers were shown hacking and sawing at the animals' throats with apparently blunt knives. In one instance the procedure, which according to Islamic law should be instantaneous, took five attempts.
Halal rules also state that animals should never see the knife or witness others being killed, protecting them against unnecessary trauma.
But the footage showed a man wearing a Muslim kufi skullcap at Bowood Lamb abattoir in Thirsk regularly sharpening knives in front of the sheep. Due to the design of the slaughterhouse, in which animals were forced on to conveyor belts, the sheep typically saw another member of the flock having its throat cut, bleeding on the floor and being hoisted and shackled. Read on and comment » | Dan Hyde, Consumer Affairs Editor, video courtesy of Animal Aid | Tuesday, February 03, 2015
