British Vet Calls For Less Religious Butchering

A former president of the British Veterinary Association has called for a dramatic reduction in the number of animals being slaughtered according to kosher and halal principles, wherein the animal's throat is cut and it's exsanguinated without being stunned first.

Legally, the practice is allowed to account for religious dietary restrictions, but Professor Bill Reilly says that a quarter of all meat on the British market is from animals killed according to non-stun slaughter, and he suspects it's being done for financial reasons more than religious ones.

According to The Telegraph, running a slaughterhouse is significantly less expensive when one doesn't have to accommodate stunning facilities, which Reilly believes is leading to the practice outside communities where it's done for religious reasons.

Reilly himself has been opposed to non-stun slaughter since the 1970s, when he says he was "appalled" by witnessing an animal being slaughtered according to orthodox Jewish principles. "The distress, fear, and pain were there for all to see (and hear) in the abattoir," he said.

Still, Reilly is not immediately calling for non-stun slaughter to be made completely illegal.

"In my view, the current situation is not acceptable and, if we cannot eliminate non-stunning, we need to keep it to the minimum," he wrote. "This means restricting the use of halal and kosher meat to those communities that require it for their religious beliefs."