“Unspeakable practices”: the L214 association calls for an end to ritual slaughter for halal and kosher meats

L’association L214 dénonce les “pratiques inqualifiables” d’un l’abattoir Bigard en Côte-d’Or. L214

In the middle of the end of Ramadan celebration, the animal rights association L214 asked this Thursday, April 11, for a ban on slaughter without stunning, a ritual aimed at producing halal or kosher, after the broadcast of images of "cruelty" in a slaughterhouse in Burgundy.

Raw throats slit, animals beaten, others hanging still conscious, their throats gaping…hellip; The animal rights association L214 reveals its new investigation into the conditions of ritual slaughter for halal and kosher meats in the Bigard slaughterhouse in Venarey-les-Laumes (Côte-d’Or ).

On a video shot in March, we see cows and calves bled alive, not by a single gesture of cutting the throat as is the practice, but " with returns in the open wound with the blade or the hand", denounces L214.

More than 20 violent blows to the body and head

While the animals must remain immobilized after slitting their throats until they become unconscious, they are transported and suspended, showing "obvious signs of consciousness". "Some are in total panic", according to the association which stigmatizes "cruelty& quot; and "deliberate violence".

Before slaughter, animals are beaten in the holding pen, one of them receiving "in one minute more than 20 violent blows to the body and head".

Request to close the slaughterhouse

L214 filed a complaint against the slaughterhouse and requested its closure from the prefecture via an online petition which has already collected nearly 35,000 signatures. The Dijon prosecutor, Olivier Caracotch, confirmed having received the complaint, indicating that it would be examined quickly".< /p>

The prefecture has assured that this slaughterhouse "is subject to permanent control"and that the veterinary services will go to the establishment on Thursday morning "in order to assess the situation and the need to implement corrective measures".

In full Eid el-Fitr, a celebration which can last several days after the end of Ramadan which occurred this Wednesday, April 10, L214 also demands the abolition of the exemption authorizing the slaughter of & rsquo;animals without stunning. The association says it wishes to discuss this ritual with representatives of the Grand Mosque of Paris in particular and the Consistory of France.

Exemption for the halal and kosher market

If European regulations require that the slaughter of animals be carried out "only after stunning" , the beast being kept "in a state of unconsciousness and insensitivity until its death",an exemption is provided for the halal and kosher market.

Muslims may also "be shocked by these images", underlined Bérénice Riaux, spokesperson for L214, who says she spoke on this subject with the rector of the Great Mosque of Lyon, Kamel Kabtane. "But there was no questioning" of this rite, she added.< /p>

Questioned by AFP, Kamel Kabtane assured that he "regretted" the situation shown in the images of L214. "We Muslims, we have a sense of respect for animals", a-t -he declared, recalling that "the sacrificers are trained to respect the animal". "A beast must not suffer, must not be mistreated".

To the L214 association, including"the goal is to make us vegans", "I told them that in the current context it's okay serve as an alibi for the National Rally", he continued.

"The homeland of human rights is certainly not that of animal rights"

In a press release, the Work for Assistance to Slaughterhouse Animals (OABA) expressed its "disgust&quot ; facing the filmed images.

"Will the images broadcast today finally open the eyes of our leaders, pushing them to act ?"< /em>, asked the animal rights association. "The homeland of human rights is certainly not that of animal rights", she denounces .