to Stun or not to Stun?

Again as part of my research into the meat industry I have met quite a few local smallholders who either breed lamb or goats. A few of them whinced when I mentioned I slaughtered animals in a "halal" manner. One even told me I was "barbaric" and that "if they can ban fox hunting they can ban halal". Well, what could I say? Most of these ideas are based on ignorance.

For one most people think that all halal meat is not stunned. In fact, most halal meat in the UK is stunned. I thought this was the case and it was confirmed today by another local abbatoir owner I was speaking to. If Muslims think that their meat is not stunned then think again. 95% of abbatoirs in the UK stun their meat. However, this does not make it "haram" meat, i.e. unlawful to eat. I asked my teacher and scholar about this and he said that as long as the stun does not kill the animal, i.e. the heart is pumping, then it is still halal. The actual act of stunning is considered "makruh" (disliked) but it does not make the meat impermissable. This viewpoint is accepted within Islamic school of law now, but obviously not by all.

As I have said before I truly believe that stunning is for the benefit of the abbatoir owners and those that profit from the meat industry. It really cant see how it is for the benefit of the animal?? Sure they are unconscious when they are killed but why is that humane? So I did some research (I like research) and found this very interesting study carried out in Germany on pain felt by animals when slaughtered - some with stunning and some with a knife.

In the study they surgically implanted electrodes onto the surface of animals' brains. They were then left for a few weeks to recover. They then tested the animals' pain when they were slaughtered. The results showed those that were slaughtered with a knife felt no pain compared to the others that did.

You can read the report here.

But due to the law in the UK most meat will continue to be stunned - its not ideal but there is not much we can do about it.