Silver side
Sir: Mr Robert Silver (Letters, 7 Novem- ber) suggested that on the subject of ritual slaughter I should make 'my meaning clear and maybe do more research'. May I make the following points about what I persist in thinking is a barbarous practice?
1. Contrary to his assertion, meat slaughtered by this method is nowadays primarily intended for export and not for domestic consumption. Five weeks ago, a spokesman for the Northern Ireland Lives- tock Commission confirmed to me that the temporary lull in the export trade is due only to the present position of the pound against the dollar (the trade is carried on in dollars).
2. The circulation of fully conscious animals in a steel drum is not in any way related to 'religious rules' as he asserts. The Government outlawed its use last week.
3. The idea that shechita is more, 'not less' humane is simply not true. Muslim slaughtermen (who at least let the animal be humanely stunned before its throat is cut) are against it. British veterinary surgeons have been outraged by it for decades.
4. Animals on their way to slaughter are
LETTERS
now so bruised, bloodied and ailing by the time they reach abattoirs that they do not even conform to the Orthodox Jewish position that an animal offered up for ritual slaughter should be physiologically perfect. It is therefore inconsistent to practise shechita in the circumstances.
5. `Cincinnatti pens', in which animals stand upright to have their throats cut from underneath, are just about to be introduced into British slaughterhouses as a result of a FAWC report. Abattoirs are partly subsi- dised by the rates and I very much want to know whether my rates will be used to pay for the hardware of animal cruelty.
6. The ritual killing of deer has just been banned altogether (kosher and hal-al veni- son is now illegal). If ritual slaughter is too horrible for deer why is it not too horrible for lambs?
Public opinion about ritual slaughter is gradually turning the tide. Much ritually slaughtered meat (particularly the hind- quarters of animals) finds its way into ordinary butchers' shops.
As a consumer and taxpayer I am perfectly entitled to ask why meat on general sale is not labelled to give its method of slaughter.
Alexandra Artley 1 St Chad's Street,
London WC1
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