Humane slaughter - Gracey's Meat Hygiene - page 132

7

Humane slaughter

interval between stunning and sticking, which must be as
short as possible , and the efficiency of the sticking itself. It
is a matter for great concern that faults occur all too often
in both areas owing to lack of training, care or supervision
and, not least, to the usual high speed of operations in the
modern high throughput slaughter establishment.
The discovery that satisfactory bleeding can occur
where cardiac arrest has been induced introduces the pos-
sibility of stunning to kill rather than merely rendering
the animal insensible. This obviates all risk of cruelty and
should be the ideal for the future for all the food animals.
The European Union Treaty of Amsterdam, in force
since May 1999, explicitly acknowledges that farm ani-
mals are sentient beings rather than agricultural prod-
ucts or commodities. Through the 'Protocol on the
Protection and Welfare of Animals' (1997), it obliges the
European Union institutions to pay full regard to animal
welfare requirements when formulating and implement-
ing EU legislation.
The responsibility for the welfare of animals from the
time they arrive at the slaughterhouse until they are dead
lies with the operator of the establishment. European
Union Council Regulation 1099/2009 recognises this by
requiring the operator to produce a 'Standard Operating
Procedure' describing how animals will 'be spared any
avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing
and related operations' and specifically what measures
will be taken to ensure that animals

' A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.
Proverbs 12:10.

The moral and ethical answers to the questions raised
when humans kill animals for food can only be answered
for each individual according to their own religious,
political or economic circumstances. All can agree, how-
ever, that if it is to be done, the act of killing must be
carried out in such a way as to cause minimum of stress,
or distress, to the animal. There are no 'nice' ways of kill-
ing animals: only the acceptable and the unacceptable. It
is the duty of the veterinarian in the meat plant to have
the knowledge and authority to ensure that only accept-
able methods are applied.
Thorpe (1965) states that 'there are two opposite pit-
falls which beset those who, like ourselves, attempt to
decide on the limits of physical injury and restraint
which are not permissible for a civilised people to exceed
in their treatment of domestic animals. First is the error
of supposing that domestic animals in their feelings and
anxieties are essentially like human beings; second is the
equally serious error of assuming they are mere insenti-
ent automata. To avoid these two pitfalls is relatively
easy. To know what path to choose between them is
extremely difficult.
In conventional slaughtering methods in most devel-
oped countries, it is normal practice to render the animal
insensible by stunning, except by the Jewish and Muslim
methods, and then to kill it by bleeding. Stunning has two
purposes: to induce an immediate state of insensibility
and to produce sufficient immobility to facilitate the stick-
ing process to initiate bleeding. In this two-stage system of
slaughter, it is vital that insensibility lasts until anoxia
resulting from exsanguination makes the loss of con-
sciousness irreversible. This depends on the length of the

1 are provided with physical comfort and protection, in
particular by being kept clean in adequate thermal
conditions and prevented from falling or slipping;
2 are protected from injury;
3 are handled and housed taking into consideration
their normal behaviour;