Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 53
1 you identified, would that occur in all cases where ritual
2 killing is used or in a percentage cases where ritual
3 killing is used?
4 A. Ritual slaughter differs because we have two types: we
5 Jewish slaughter and Muslim slaughter. So that is one
6 separation. The point that they share in common is that
7 neither uses a prestunning system.
8
9 Q. Right.
10 A. It is not quite true that many Muslims now -- I say
11 "many" -- in some Muslim countries they will actually
12 accept a form of stunning. Rather curiously, in some
13 places if you stun at the same time you cut the throat, one
14 authority will say, well, the stun has been done before the
15 cut; and the ritual people will say, well, the cut was done
16 before the stun. So you have satisfied both on rather
17 dodgy signs.
18
19 Q. But whenever the cut is done before the stun, does that
20 concern you?
21 A. Yes. If could I just say, the Jewish method does
22 require or did require capsizing the animal first. That
23 means that here you have the animal in a crush, you bring
24 the sides together, and then you turn it upside-down one
25 way or the another. The animal is then lying back with its
26 throat exposed. Animals, cattle particularly, do not like
27 that so they struggle like anything, possibly for a minute,
28 desperately trying to get out and sometimes they do. Then
29 when you can get the conditions right water is applied
30 according to the ritual to the neck; you get another bout
31 of struggling, and then the chockit, that is the Jewish
32 slaughterman, slits the throat.
33
34 Now that system, the Jews have in this country been
35 persuaded and now in North America to do the cut upwards,
36 but they use this cut. So the Jewish authorities in this
37 country argue that you cannot get sufficient force to bring
38 this very big knife upwards.
39
40 Q. I do not want to go into too much detail.
41 A. There is -----
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: All you are being asked is in what way is the
44 Jewish or the Muslim method of slaughter, in so far as it
45 is not in one of the Muslim countries which allows stunning
46 first, is hard on the animal?
47 A. The main point is the effectiveness, if you relying
48 entirely on the stunning and the killing, that the cut must
49 be very effective to have a very rapid loss of blood. The
50 ventral cut into the chest is more effective than the cross
51 cut. To that extent, the continuation of sentient is
52 longer in the ritual method. This is why it is condemned.
53 The FAWC wanted it banned altogether, and so does the
54 British Veterinary Association and so does the RSPCA.
55
56 MR. MORRIS: That is the standard opinion, that ritual slaughter
57 causes more suffering by the animal?
58 A. Yes.
59
60 Q. I was going to suggest a break.
