British Jews welcome government decision to maintain kosher slaughter practices

Jewish groups have welcomed the British government’s decision to reject a recommendation to ban kosher slaughter ("shechita") practices. The threat to ritual slaughter was raised after a June 2003 report by the government-sponsored "Farm Animal Welfare Council" advised that the practice should be outlawed. The Council had argued that shechita and the Muslim method of "halal" slaughter, both of which demand the animal be fully conscious when its throat is cut, contravened British laws against animal cruelty, which mandate that all animals butchered in Britain must be electrically stunned before they are killed. But a specially formed Jewish coalition called "Shechita UK" fought the recommendation by emphasizing scientific evidence that shechitah is a humane method of slaughter. The British authorities initially appeared inclined to accept the Council’s assertions that “animals (especially cattle) slaughtered without pre-stunning are likely to experience very significant pain and distress.”