RSPCA calls for ban on non-stun slaughter but not Halal ban
21% increase in Halal & 2% Shechita since 2022
The UK’s largest animal welfare charity has renewed its call for a wholesale ban on non-stun slaughter while claiming to respect religious practices.
The RSPCA has responded to figures released by the Food Standards Authority (FSA) that suggest an 18.5% increase in slaughter through pre-stunning since 2022.
Describing the figures to be a “real concern”, the head of public affairs at the RSPCA, David Bowles, reportedly added in passing: “We acknowledge that religious beliefs and practices should be respected, however, all animals should be treated humanely at the time of killing and therefore be stunned prior to slaughter.”
According to the FSA, slaughter through non-stunning has risen for both Islamic Halal and Jewish Shechita practices with an increase of 21% for the former and 2% for the latter.
UK legislation dictates that all farm animals must be stunned before slaughter so as to ensure that they do not feel pain.
Animal welfare charities like the RSPCA subjectively conclude that for slaughter to be humane, all animals must be effectively stunned.
Since the release of the FSA figures, the RSPCA has responded on Twitter to claims that it is calling for a ban of Halal or Kosher by clarifying: “We’re calling for all farm animals to be pre-stunned w[ith] no exceptions. We’re not calling for a ban of Halal or Kosher, but a full non-stun slaughter ban. …
“[W]e’ve campaigned on the issue for many years. Our concerns has nothing to do with expression of religious belief, but b[ecause] slaughter without pre-stunning compromises animal welfare. Previous data has shown around 88% of animals slaughtered in UK for Halal are stunned first.”
Shimon Cohen
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The statement made by the RSPCA is insulting, patronising and frankly offensive. They claim to respect religious beliefs whilst dictating to Jews and Muslims how we should be allowed to observe their owns faiths. That is not respect. One might have thought that an organisation self-proclaiming and dedicated to “preventing cruelty” would focus its attention on the pain and suffering inflicted on animals by the approved mechanical stunning methods including the Jarvis box, free bullet, captive stun, high concentration CO2 and other gas mixtures, electronarcosis to the head, and electrical water bath methods, all of which, it might be added, were introduced into factories to speed up the kill and not for any animal welfare concerns. These methods, adored by the RSPCA and others, are not better than Shechita, which, should be noted, conforms to the EU definition of stunning too, and are not without a significant margin of error, inflicting horrific pain on animals. That the RSPCA and others chooses to target the religious communities’ methods, so small in number raises more questions.
9 Dec '24– Shimon Cohen, Shechita UK