沒有科學證據，百分之百證實伊斯蘭宰牲，是非人道的方式。同樣，用電擊方式，未必動物不會感到痛苦。
The head of the British Veterinary Association has said that religious
slaughter methods need to change to prevent animal suffering. It is unfortunate that the
BVA and other animal welfare organisations in the UK tend to view religious
slaughter as incompatible with humaneness; quite the contrary is true – compassion and
animal welfare stand at the centre of the entire process.
Shechita
and zabiha are not words
commonly known by the public, but to Jewish and Muslim communities they are
synonymous with sincerely held, religiously mandated care for animals. They refer to the Jewish
and Muslim humane methods of slaughter of animals for food, and the body of
religious law in which they are contained talks not only about the last two
seconds of an animal's life, but about its treatment from birth.
There is much difference between shechita and zabiha,
but both quickly dispatch the animal by severing the structures at the front of
the neck – the trachea, oesophagus, carotid arteries and jugular veins. When
carried out by a trained practitioner, the speed and precision of the incision
ensures the lack of stimulation of the severed structures and results in the immediate
loss of consciousness; blood flow to the brain is completely halted. In addition, blood empties rapidly from
the brain.
Irreversible cessation of consciousness and insensibility to pain
are achieved, providing the most effective stun. There is no delay between stun and
subsequent death, so the animal cannot regain consciousness – as can happen
with conventional slaughter methods.
Traditional British methods of stunning by use of a captive bolt, gassing or
electrocution (by electrified pincers for larger animals, or a water bath with
an electric current running through it for poultry) paralyse the animal, and it
is unable to display outward signs of feeling pain. However, it is impossible
to know whether the animal is feeling pain or not.
There is ample scientific evidence that religious slaughter is at
least as humane as conventional mechanical slaughter. Research in the UK
and the US, including by Dr Temple Grandin – one of the authorities on
animal welfare – have supported this view. By contrast, many of the studies that suggest
that religious slaughter causes unnecessary pain have been agenda-driven and
methodologically flawed, stretching data in a distinctly unscientific fashion
to unsupported conclusions.
It is remarkable therefore that religious slaughter can generate
such a huge amount of publicity and media scaremongering when in fact the
number of animals affected is extremely low. Halal and kosher meat are responsible
for a fraction of the cattle slaughtered in the UK.
So even if one believes, despite the lack of scientific consensus,
that religious slaughter is cruel, it is deeply troubling that the BVA has
chosen to focus its attention on religious slaughter rather than other, far more pressing
animal welfare issues. For example, between 2009 and 2011 the campaign group Animal Aid
filmed secretly and found evidence of unspeakable cruelty and
illegal activity in eight of nine randomly chosen British slaughterhouses:
animals were kicked, slapped, stamped on, and even burned with cigarettes. We
are yet to hear of a campaign by the BVA to root out this kind of cruelty.
Similarly, the European Food
Safety authority found in 2004 that the failure rate for the much-trumpeted
penetrating captive bolt stunning in conventional mechanical slaughter may be
as high as 6.6%, and up to 31% for non-penetrating captive bolt and electric
stunning.
This equates to millions of animals each year that experience incredible
suffering. But the BVA has not mounted a campaign on this.
There
will always be a discussion about what can be learned from scientific evidence,
and the Jewish and Muslim communities stand ready to debate in any constructive
forum. But let us not pretend that religious slaughter represents a key
battleground for animal welfare in this country – to do so is disingenuous in
the extreme.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/09/halal-outrage-concern-animal-welfare-muslim-ritual-slaughter
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