The animal rights association L214 called on Thursday, in the middle of the end of Ramadan celebrations, for a ban on slaughter without stunning to produce halal or kosher meat, after the broadcast of images in a slaughterhouse in Burgundy, which will be subject to a thorough inspection. A video broadcast by the association and filmed in the Bigard slaughterhouse in Venarey-les-Laumes (Côte-d'Or) in March shows cattle bled alive, not by a single act of cutting the throat as required. the practice, but
“with returns in the open wound with the blade or the hand”
, denounces L214.
While the animals must remain immobilized after the slitting until they become unconscious, they are transported and hung, showing
"obvious signs of consciousness"
.
“Some are in total panic
,” according to L214, which stigmatizes
“cruelty”
and
“deliberate violence
. ”
Before slaughter, animals are beaten in the waiting enclosure, one of them receiving
“in one minute more than 20 violent blows to the body and head”
. L214 filed a complaint against the slaughterhouse and requested its closure from the prefecture. The Dijon prosecutor, Olivier Caracotch, confirmed having received the complaint, indicating that it would be
“examined quickly”
.
The prefecture assured to carry out
“permanent”
control in this slaughterhouse. L214 announced that it had initiated
“an action against the State for failure to carry out its control mission”
, wondering why, in this case, the non-compliances were not noted. The prefecture specified that
“a thorough inspection of slaughter conditions”
will begin
“from Monday”
.
“Additional measures may be decided at the end of this audit
,” she added. Asked on the subject, the Ministry of Agriculture assured that the
“corrective measures”
and possible
“administrative or criminal sanctions”
for this slaughterhouse would be determined after the conclusions of the prefecture’s inspection. He also recalled having
“strengthened controls”
in slaughterhouses since 2021, in particular through the creation of a national intervention brigade.
Fines
In the middle of Eid el-Fitr, a celebration which can last several days after the end of Ramadan on Wednesday, L214 also demands the abolition of the exemption authorizing the slaughter of animals without stunning. L214 says it wishes to discuss this ritual with representatives of the Grand Mosque of Paris in particular and the Consistory of France. The practice is abolished in several European countries: Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Switzerland. It is also prohibited in Belgium (outside the Brussels-Capital region), a measure validated by the European Court of Human Rights in February 2024.
European regulations require that the slaughter of animals be done
“only after stunning”
, the animal being kept
“in a state of unconsciousness and insensibility until its death”
. But 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 said she spoke on this subject with the rector of the Grand Mosque of Lyon, Kamel Kabtane.
“But there was no questioning”
of this rite, she added. Questioned by AFP, Kamel Kabtane assured that he
“regretted”
the situation shown in the L214 images.
“We Muslims have a sense of respect for animals
,” he declared, recalling that
“sacrificers are trained to respect animals
. ”
To the L214 association, whose
“objective is to make us vegans”
,
“I told them that in the current context it will serve as an alibi for the National Rally”
, continued the rector of the Great Mosque of Lyon. Asked by AFP, the Bigard group indicated that it had to analyze the video before making any comments. L214 specializes in videos filmed on farms or slaughterhouses to denounce conditions that it considers contrary to animal welfare, with in some cases convictions resulting. On Thursday, an employee of a pig farm in Yonne was sentenced to a suspended fine of 1,000 euros for
“mistreatment of an animal”
. At the beginning of March, two companies constituting one of the largest pig farms in Brittany were fined 60,000 euros each, 20,000 of which were suspended.