Perhaps you are able to help me understand the recent appearance of a Halal butchery shop in the centre of Spalding?
When so much of our legislation is passed on the moral duty of preventing cruelty in all its guises, why has SHDC granted permission for a Halal butcher to operate?
Issues such as fox hunting, the smacking of children, how prisoners are treated, product testing, the public order act and even the decision making of the family courts are predicated on the ethics of preventing cruelty and yet, here, non-stun slaughter is evidently being allowed to promulgate in our town which has not known it since the 1930 Slaughter Of Animals Act (If not before, the captive bolt gun having been available since 1903).
The British Veterinary Association outlines that pre-stunning makes sure that animals are unconscious and insensible to pain before they are slaughtered. Evidence on slaughter without pre-stunning, known as non-stun slaughter, shows that animals:
- feel the pain of the neck cut;
- experience a delay in loss of consciousness (lasting up to two minutes in cattle); and are highly likely to suffer pain, suffering, and distress during the cut and bleeding.
It further states that: “Figures from the Food Standards Agency indicate that in 2018 over 94 million cattle, sheep, and poultry were slaughtered in England without being pre-stunned.”
If we are happy for this to happen because of people’s cultural beliefs, how are we curtailing the cultural practices of other groups such as fox hunters (I have no wish for it to be reintroduced)?
If we are basing our legislation on the morality of preventing cruelty why are we not following through with banning this cruelty?
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland all have a complete ban on the cruel practice of non-stun slaughter.
So why have SHDC (I assume with the assent of Sir John Hayes) granted permission for this, for want of a better word, evil practice in the very heart of our community?
I find it beyond comprehension so perhaps a council member, Sir John Hayes or one of your readers could explain the ethics to me?
Name and address supplied
