Halal slaughter: Outcry after undercover film exposes brutality of industry The Independent
Ministers are under pressure to respond to growing public discontent about religious slaughter after an undercover investigation exposed the horrific mistreatment of animals at a halal abattoir.
Secretly filmed footage which appears to show abattoir workers repeatedly hacking at sheep’s throats, hurling them into solid structures and kicking them in the face has intensified demands for a complete ban on the religious slaughter of animals without stunning them first.
Four slaughtermen at the North Yorkshire abattoir have had their operating licences suspended by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) after a catalogue of apparent brutality was caught on camera. The footage shows animals being treated with “gratuitous violence and contempt”, according to the charity Animal Aid, which carried out the investigation.
The film emerged days after a petition demanding that slaughter without pre-stunning be outlawed passed the 100,000 mark, adding pressure on political leaders to bring in fresh curbs on inhumane practices in abattoirs.
The Government has said it has no intention of introducing new controls on the production of halal or kosher meat, a line that David Cameron repeated during a recent visit to Israel. Animals are meant to be stunned before they are killed, but there are exemptions for Muslim and Jewish producers.
The covert filming at the Bowood Lamb abattoir in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, appears to show workers hacking and sawing at throats in contravention of Islamic practice, which requires animals to be killed with one clean sweep of a knife. In one instance it took five attempts to sever blood vessels.
One worker, who is wearing the traditional Muslim kufi skullcap, recites the words Allahu Akbar (God is great) as he wields his blade. Other images captured during the filming of the slaughter of 400 sheep over three days seemed to show:
*Sheep being kicked in the face and head, lifted by their ears, fleeces or legs, and hurled into solid structures.
*A worker bouncing up and down on the neck of a sheep that is still conscious.
*Staff laughing over a sheep bleeding to death with spectacles drawn around its eyes in green paint.
*Knives being sharpened in front of sheep, which also saw other animals being shackled and hoisted.
*Sheep falling from a chute on to a slippery floor in the kill area and frequently thrown head-first into a solid upright structure, which is part of the conveyor.
The FSA said: “Four slaughtermen have had their licences suspended and we are investigating. It means they can’t operate as slaughtermen and work with live animals.
“When the FSA has finished investigating, it will need to consider if there is sufficient evidence of a breach of animal welfare legislation to justify a referral to the Crown Prosecution Service.”
Asked about the allegations, William Woodward, one of the abattoir’s directors, said the firm had no comment.
Animal Aid, the charity which recorded the footage, felt compelled to issue a lengthy statement acknowledging its fears that the footage could inflame religious hatred, but insisting the images were so shocking that they had to be released in the public interest.
It added: “Withholding release of the footage would be a betrayal of our key mission: to expose and combat animal cruelty.
“Bowood Lamb is the 10th slaughterhouse in which we have filmed undercover since January 2009. As with the others, we didn’t know what we would find when our cameras were planted, including that it was a halal establishment – the first we have investigated.”
The charity continued: “The feature that distinguishes it [Bowood] from the traditional ‘humane’ English slaughterhouse is that it kills animals without pre-stunning.
“Jewish and Muslim religious authorities assert that death by the shechita or halal methods, without pre-stunning, is instantaneous and painless. A body of evidence demonstrates that this is not a credible position, and our new footage removes any remaining doubt. Rather than animals being treated with compassion and being uninjured prior to the fatal cut, we see them routinely treated with gratuitous violence and contempt. Additionally, many of the sheep in our film are not dispatched with a single clean cut but have their throats hacked at repeatedly with a knife that is either blunt or being used ineptly.
“Compassionate people whatever their religious beliefs, or none, will be appalled by the treatment endured by these animals.”
An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “The public has a right to expect that all farmed animals have as painless and humane an end to their lives as possible...This footage sounds absolutely shocking.”
The petition calling for an end to non-stun slaughter has been championed by the British Veterinary Association, which has warned ministers that they “simply cannot ignore the strength of public feeling” over animal welfare.
Last night the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs repeated it had no intention of banning religious slaughter. It said the Government preferred animals to be stunned before they are killed, but respected the rights of Jewish and Muslim communities to eat meat in accordance with their beliefs.
Last week David Cameron’s official spokesman said Mr Cameron remained firmly opposed to a ban. He said the Prime Minister still stood by the view he expressed in Israel, in support of those traditions.
“Existing rules require that where stunning is used it must be sufficient to make the animal unconscious and insensible to pain without... unnecessary pain, suffering or distress.”
Slaughterhouse rules: Religious exemptions
Slaughterhouses are required by law to stun animals before they are killed to minimise suffering.
But there are exemptions for Muslim and Jewish producers to respect their religious traditions. For meat to be considered kosher under Jewish law or halal under Islamic law, the animal must be conscious when killed.
The halal code stipulates that animals are killed quickly with one sweep of a knife. They should not see the knife, or witness the death of other animals. Under UK law, slaughtered animals that have not been stunned must remain in position for at least 20 seconds after their throats are cut, to ensure loss of consciousness.
One of Britain’s largest halal slaughterhouses is being investigated over animal cruelty allegations.
An animal campaign group claim to have secretly filmed an employee using a knife to repeatedly saw at the necks of sheep, according to The Daily Mail.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have now launched an inquiry based on the footage, which was recorded at a slaughterhouse owned by Malik Food Group.
The firm claims to be ‘the UK’s leading processor of Premium Halal Mutton, Lamb and Beef’.
Halal, like the Jewish practice of kosher, forbids the stunning of animals before their throats are cut.
In conventional abattoirs, animals are stunned with bolt gun or electric shock, to render them unconscious before they are killed.
But under the Islamic slaughter practice, a prayer is said over the animals as they pass through the abattoir, before they are killed with a swift single cut to the throat.
But campaign group Animal Aid claim 70 hours of undercover footage at Dunnockshaw Farm, near Burnley, reveals ‘barbaric and deliberate cruelty’.
They say animals were not all killed instantly, but instead were seen fitting and jumping as they passed on a belt.
Harrowing footage also appears to show the sheep being thrown onto the conveyor belt.
Stephen Riley, one of Malik’s two directors, was prosecuted last year over the cruel treatment of a cow at the same abattoir.
The group boasts of supplying ‘millions of customers every year’ and providing stock to ‘leading retailers’.
Many food outlets including KFC, Subway and Pizza Express sell halal meat.
Hundreds of schools now serve halal to children and all the major supermarkets sell New Zealand lamb killed by the practice, without declaring it on labels.
But while advocates of halal say animals lose consciousness quickly and do not suffer, animal welfare groups and the British Veterinary Association argue this is not the case.
Calls have been made for CCTV cameras to be installed in all slaughterhouses, a proposal backed by 200 MPs.
Discussing the footage, Animal Aid spokesperson Luke Steele said: ‘Our investigation has uncovered barbaric and deliberate cruelty being inflicted on animals, in horrific scenes unlike any we have ever seen before.
‘There is no doubt that law breaking continues to be an inherent problem in abattoirs.’
And a spokesperson from the FSA said: ‘Based on our findings, and reviewing nearly 70 hours of video, we took immediate enforcement action against both the operator and individual plant staff, including the issue of Welfare Enforcement Notices and revocation of slaughterman certificates of competence.’
When Metro.co.uk contacted Malik Food Group an employee said there was nobody available to comment on the allegations.
At one level the muslims are under attack from all sides...And on the other level we have Muslims clearly violating the Sharia, in the above case not even knowing the basic rules and ettiquettes of Halal Slaughter May ALLAH help us.
As a teenager back in 1991 I worked in a Halal Abbatoir, for a few weeks cant remember the details of how the slaughter took place...But I remember the Brother responsible for doing the Zibah...Ponty tail, Tatooes, earings a proper gangster Brother I am not sure how much he would have known about the rules of Halal Slaughter.
The Abattoir was an assembly line , relentless several hundred sheep a day, the carcases after they had been slaughtered hung on hooks on an overhead conveyor, with people on the line responsible for each task, some removing feet some removing skin. etc.
Although the company was responsible for paying the wages of Environmental health officers who were required to be present Fulltime to ensure the carcasses were healthy and not diseased before they were stamped. I presume they were also responsible to ensuring no cruelty took place.
I am also not sure how one can maintain the Proper rules of Slaughter and respect for the animals in a relentless conveyor belt assembly line...Especially the guy responsible for doing the Zibah with 200 to 300 sheep a day.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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