If UKIP does not impose an outright ban on non-stun slaughter, then what
can we do to improve animal welfare at slaughter?
The answer is: a very great deal.
1) For a start, we will enforce (and improve) the law and ensure that
only Jews and Muslims consume religiously slaughtered animals. This can be
achieved by proper labelling and transparency through the chain. At present, the
law is satisfied if the first buyer from an abattoir is a Muslim. Where he
trades the meat after that is not followed up, and it must be followed
up.
2) At present, retailers have an obligation to ensure that alcohol and
tobacco are not sold to youngsters. In the same way, meat retailers will need to
be satisfied that an individual wishing to purchase Halal meat, is indeed a
practicing Muslim. His/her local mosque will issue them with a certificate (in
exactly the same way that I can only purchase shotgun cartridges by showing my
shotgun certificate).
We must not lose sight of the fact that consuming Halal meat is a
privilege, and that there is invariably a price to pay for a
privilege.
1) No Halal meat to be permitted in prisons. A prison sentence is a
punishment, the loss of liberty and privilege is part of this process. The
withdrawal of this particular privilege may in itself act as a useful crime
deterrent in the first place.
2) Increase ratio of pre-stunned Halal. At present, about 25% of Halal
meat is stunned in the same way as non-Halal. So, apart from the prayers, there
is no difference, and the animal welfare concern falls away. There is scope to
increase this percentage, through education. If ever there was an example of
tackling the cause of a problem, rather than the symptom, then this has to be
it.
3) Improve competence of Halal slaughterers. They must be brought up to
the standard of the Jewish slaughterers. Training and certification will be
required. This is common practice in other occupations.
4) CCTV in abattoirs. The Conservatives have recently poached this UKIP
policy.
Taken together, the above points will drastically reduce the number of
animals killed without pre-stunning, and significantly reduce any welfare issues
that can arise from those that are killed in this way.
It has to be pointed out that the stunning process is, in itself,
vulnerable to mechanical failure and human error, resulting in approx. 1%
mis-stuns and the welfare consequences that flow from that.
Abattoirs are not pleasant places. However, I contend that it is far
better for us to retain control of the religious slaughter process than it is to
merely displace a welfare problem to other countries and seriously damage our
rural economy in the process. This is not a topic suitable for headline-grabbing
virtue signalling.
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