Dutch government to vote on banning ritual slaughter of animals

[Babur]

I wonder what is the motivation behind this, since there is probably more to this than just animal rights.I don't see why Jews and Muslims can't carry out their own religious traditions in Netherlands?.If this vote is passed, then it may set a precedent for other countries in Europe to follow.

Dutch government to vote on banning ritual slaughter of animals
The Dutch parliament is to vote on Tuesday on banning ritual slaughter - animal rights legislation that has been compared to the Nazis by the country’s Jewish religious leader.


Jonathan Sacks, Britain’s Chief Rabbi, joined the campaign to stop the ban last week amid Jewish fears that pressure to ban ritual slaughter is growing across the EU Photo: Andrew Crowley
By Bruno Waterfield7:00AM BST 28 Jun 2011

The prohibition against Jewish Kosher or Muslim Halal meat from animals slaughtered by having their throats cut before being stunned is expected to be passed.
While up to 80 per cent of halal meat is from stunned animals, the Jewish Schetita method of slaughter never involves involve stunning and will become illegal under Dutch law.
Binyomin Jacobs, the Dutch Chief Rabbi, has compared the ban to the anti-Semitic laws enacted by a collaborationist government during the Second World War Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
“One of the first measures taken during the occupation was the closing of kosher abattoirs,” he said.
Jewish and Muslim groups have tried to persuade Dutch MPs earlier that the ban would constitute a fundamental attack on the freedom to practice their faiths.

Jonathan Sacks, Britain’s Chief Rabbi, joined the campaign to stop the ban last week amid Jewish fears that pressure to ban ritual slaughter is growing across the EU.
“If pre-stunning were made compulsory under Dutch law, Jews would be unable to practice a central element of Jewish life which has been continuously practised for over 3,000 years,” he said.
“We are worried that it could spread. There has been a non-stop campaign by animal welfare activists to have all forms of ritual slaughter banned. It has to be fought everywhere because if it’s lost anywhere it has a potential domino effect.”
Esther Ouwehand, an MP for the Dutch animal rights party, has insisted that the ban is needed to prevent the suffering of two million animals, mainly sheep and chickens, that are killed by ritual slaughter every year in the Netherlands.
“The animals suffer more and are more distressed if they are not stunned. By getting this modification in the law, we hope to inspire other countries,” she said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...f-animals.html

[sephodwyrm]

I just remembered that Hitler loved his animals, too.

[Babur]

I just remembered that Hitler loved his animals, too.

he was a vegetarian afaik

You have to understand that we have Christian Democrats and Neo-Conservatives leading the country now, they dont know better than to supress liberty.

I hope this doesn't set a precedent

Good, screw the religious nuts.

Jews too? as Manco pointed out this is much more than just a question of animal welfare.

[Principe Alessandro]

Jews too? as Manco pointed out this is much more than just a question of animal welfare.

I don't really care if Jews too would be affected.

[mongrel]

I don't really care if Jews too would be affected.

The anti-Schindler. It is crass statements like this that Makes one wonder whether we should have left Europe to the tender mercies of the Soviet Union after WW".



Always thought that the dumb Zionists who support who ally themselves with racists in promoting Islamophobia would risk others using the opportunity to remove the rights of practicing Jews, and here we have it.

[Principe Alessandro]

The anti-Schindler. It is crass statements like this that Makes one wonder whether we should have left Europe to the tender mercies of the Soviet Union after WW".



Always thought that the dumb Zionists who support who ally themselves with racists in promoting Islamophobia would risk others using the opportunity to remove the rights of practicing Jews, and here we have it.

Yeah another of your rambling spitting of random PC statements. Now I'm the "anti-Schindler", all of this because I support the banning of ritual non-stunting slaughter.

[Incesticide]

Jews too? as Manco pointed out this is much more than just a question of animal welfare.

The point here is that ritual slaughter without prior anaesthetisia is barbaric, however daintily you put it, tradition or not. Freedom is a two-edged sword. Your liberty to play your stereo conflicts with my liberty to enjoy the peace of the sounds of nature. In the same way, your liberty to follow religious traditions by the book conflicts with my desire for an animal to have a painless death.

The comparison of the Dutch government to the Nazi party by Binyomin Jacobs is laughable. Shechitah is also banned in Switzerland, Sweden and Norway whom when I last checked were not engaged in a mass-killing programme. The Dutch government is not about to set up ghettos and work camps to herd the Jews into. The fact that right wing groups have latched onto the proposition and given it their support is unfortunate but a necessary evil. Of course this is much more than a question of animal welfare - this is politics, each and every political group has its own agenda and supports motions based on whether or not they align with their interests.

When Jacobs and Sacks can provide clear evidence that shechitah does not cause more suffering than normal slaughter methods (with stunning) I will be happy to join them on the barricades over this issue.

[Augment]

You have to understand that we have Christian Democrats and Neo-Conservatives leading the country now, they dont know better than to supress liberty.

[Principe Alessandro]

Good, screw the religious nuts.

[Manco]

I wouldn't mind so much if animal welfare was the actual goal, but it's pretty obvious it's been capitalized on by the more xenophobic elements of the right.

[Treize]

Only without anesthesia...

[removeduser_487563287433]

I wouldn't support. I mean, I think we should have legislation to ensure that an animal is sufficiently stunned and that should apply across the board without exception. But I am not fussed if somebody prays to their Storm God prior to the coup de grace.

[Treize]

I wouldn't support. I mean, I think we should have legislation to ensure that an animal is sufficiently stunned and that should apply across the board without exception. But I am not fussed if somebody prays to their Storm God prior to the coup de grace.

That is exactly what is happening. It is just people whining about how stunning animals is against god or whatever.

[removeduser_487563287433]

That is exactly what is happening. It is just people whining about how stunning animals is against god or whatever.

And they can go piss up a rope.

[sephodwyrm]

It is just people whining about how stunning animals is against god or whatever.

I frankly don't care about animal stunning unless the lack of stunning:
1. degrades food safety
2. degrades work safety
3. degrades food quality

And they can go piss up a rope.

I'm not a cow so I wouldn't care if they did. And wouldn't care if they didn't.

[removeduser_487563287433]

I frankly don't care about animal stunning unless the lack of stunning:
1. degrades food safety
2. degrades work safety
3. degrades food quality


I'm not a cow so I wouldn't care if they did. And wouldn't care if they didn't.

And I think the pain of a living breathing creature, even an animal, is infinitely more important that the petty bronze age rituals of somebody's favoured Storm God.

[Treize]

And then to think there is only a single kosher slaughterhouse in the entire country.

Thing is Jews and Muslims will now just import their meat from Belgium while we lose employment at their expense.

[Manco]

And then to think there is only a single kosher slaughterhouse in the entire country.

Thing is Jews and Muslims will now just import their meat from Belgium while we lose employment at their expense.

Funnily enough it just came out that Belgian slaughterhouses kill 20% of their animals halal-style, which is faaaaaaar too many. It actually means that a lot of regular food is halal, while lots of supposed halal meat isn't because some of those 'halal' importers have a very loose definiton of what halal entails.

Anyway, those who support this because killing animals without anaesthesia are rather naive. One of the most popular forms of anaesthesia is shocking them, and I can assure shocking animals to sedate them is rather contradictory, their cries made it quite clear the shocking itself is often very painful.

[Incesticide]

Yosemite, the question of invertebrate pain is a long and complex one and would be beyond the scope of the current topic. Suffice to say that invertebrates respond to certain stimuli differently than vertebrates would.

Anyway, those who support this because killing animals without anaesthesia are rather naive. One of the most popular forms of anaesthesia is shocking them, and I can assure shocking animals to sedate them is rather contradictory, their cries made it quite clear the shocking itself is often very painful.

Incidentally, I would also be in favour of improving "approved" slaughter conditions in general. It would be ludicrous to state that animal doesn't suffer when given a shock, or that it doesn't suffer horrific stress when it realises what is about to happen to it. It would be just as ludicrous to believe that industrial slaughterhouses do their job perfectly. The point here is that any improvement on the welfare of the animal is a step in the right direction. I'm just as opposed to fully-conscious ritual slaughter as I am to industrial methods that cause excessive suffering to the animal.

[Tiberios]

animal rights legislation that has been compared to the Nazis by the country’s Jewish religious leader.

Ohh look, it's the Nazi card. That's just a stupid comment IMO.

Anyway, I don't see why these practices are banned, at least those where the animals don't suffer.