Animal welfare on the one hand, religious freedom on the other: a video by L214 revives this highly sensitive debate. The association publishes this Thursday, February 20 new shock images of a slaughterhouse in Dordogne, practicing in particular the ritual slaughter for halal and kosher meat. She claims, in the name of animal welfare, the prohibition of this practice, carried out without stunning.
This time, L214 installed its hidden cameras at Sobeval in Dordogne, a gigantic and ultramodern slaughterhouse specializing in calves, which has the distinction of practicing standard slaughter as ritual slaughter. We see in particular animals killed according to Muslim or Jewish religious rules. Some seem to be dying for long minutes, others "to wake up" and raise their heads after being suspended by a hind leg from the chain.
So many images that push L214 to want to ban ritual slaughter, despite its legality. This year, two Belgian provinces, Flanders and Wallonia, have prohibited these practices on their territory. In France, politicians of all stripes are stepping on eggs. It is even difficult to obtain figures for the number of chickens, calves, sheep thus killed according to Jewish or Muslim rites. According to a confidential report from the Ministry of Agriculture released in 2011, of all the animals killed in 2010, 40% of adult cattle would have been killed without stunning. A disputed figure, considered overvalued. To try to see more clearly, in 2017, a new report was commissioned. But its content has remained secret.
We interviewed Sébastien Arsac, the co-founder of L214, who requests the ban on slaughter without stunning, and Bruno Fiszon, veterinarian and chief rabbi of Metz, who ensures that animals do not suffer more when they are killed according to the religious ritual. Debate.
"It makes the animal suffer a lot more"
Sébastien Arsac, co-founder of L214, responsible for the association's campaigns
Why call for the ban on slaughter without stunning (halal and kosher)?
SEBASTIAN ARSAC. Because killing without stunning the animal first causes it much more pain. In Europe, stunning animals is compulsory before bleeding. Ritual slaughter without stunning is only an exception.
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The National Rally (RN) also opposes ritual slaughter. Are you on the same line?
No. The position of this party is dishonest. He is raising this issue with anti-Muslim overtones. On the other hand, we do not hear the RN on the horrible suffering inflicted on birds by glue hunters. At L214, we are consistent. It is our job as an association to tell it like it is. We don't want to censor ourselves. Not to mention that many Muslims and Jews in France also feel concerned by animal welfare. Opening their eyes to what is going on in slaughterhouses is important. And we don't want to censor ourselves.
Doesn't the defense of animals oppose religious freedom?
Of course not. Besides, respect for animals is part of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious ethics. Very often, to justify the ritual slaughter, Muslims and Jews in good faith explain that the trained priests are less painful than the slaughter with stunning. It's wrong ! Our videos at the Sobeval slaughterhouse show, for example, shearing gestures that prolong the suffering of the animal, instead of a frank bleeding. Muslims or Jews who would strictly adhere to their religious prescriptions should not even eat chickens from intensive farming since their whole life is only suffering.
What solution do they have? Become vegetarians?
It's a possibility. Besides, in Israel, a country where the consciousness of animal welfare is very developed, there is a very important vegan movement. But there are also compromise solutions. The Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese) has just issued an opinion where it proposes to practice stunning immediately after the bleeding. It should also be noted that a number of Muslim countries, such as Indonesia, allow animals to be stunned to produce halal meat. In France, most of the halal chickens are passed through an electrified bath before being bled, it is a form of anesthesia.
"The ritual is extremely watched"
Bruno Fiszon, veterinarian and chief rabbi of Metz and the Moselle, member of the National Slaughterhouse Ethics Committee
L214 calls for the end of ritual slaughter in the name of animal welfare. Do animals suffer more this way?
BRUNO FISZON. No, of course. Ritual slaughter, when practiced according to the rules of the art, allows a section of the carotid arteries and jugular, which leads to massive bleeding and extremely rapid loss of consciousness. For us, the loss of consciousness of the animal is decisive, because we cannot assess animal suffering. But, obviously, when we see a poultry which flaps its wings after the bleeding or an animal which pedals after the bleeding, that is shocking and that is the problem of these videos of L214. Because these are not meaningful gestures, they are reflex gestures, while there are tangible signs of loss of consciousness, such as reaction to the threat.
Are there enough controls in slaughterhouses?
I was still on the ground this week and the ritual is extremely monitored by the veterinary services, which control almost every slaughter. In 2009, INRA also published a booklet on the pain of animals in slaughterhouses and it indicates the times of loss of consciousness for poultry, sheep and cattle. We must also compare with what gives the dizziness, and there is a lot of failure, up to 16% of cattle are poorly stunned by a piercing rod, and lose consciousness very late. In sheep, this figure rises to 54%. According to this same report, there are 17% of failures in ritual slaughter, Jewish and Muslim combined. There may be problems, but it remains a minority.
Do you fear a ban on ritual slaughter, as in Belgium?
Obviously, because politics is sensitive to public opinion. However if the latter mobilizes massively, and this is the goal of L214, obviously we will be in difficulty.
Are you surprised that L214 relays this call?
I find that targeting the Jewish and Muslim communities can divert the fight from L214. From the defense of animals, they are engulfed in a political breach. In Europe, and in France, the political party which advocates the prohibition of the ritual is the National Rally. These attacks are in any case very badly lived by the community which wonders if we still want Jews in Europe. And I think it's the same for Muslims.
PODCAST. Behind the scenes of L214