Oh boy! If we have laws that decide a farmer can be fined for keeping a cow in the dark ...
A farmer has been fined £150 for failing to 'meet the psychological needs' of a cow because his barn was too dark.
... how are the touchy-feelies going to react to this revelation?
A study proving Jewish and Islamic methods of slaughtering animals are painful has led to renewed calls for a ban in Britain
UK law requires that all livestock be stunned prior to slaughter – with the exception of those animals intended for consumption by members of certain religions. Islamic halal and Jewish kashrut law require that animals are slaughtered by having their throat cut – a relatively slow means of death.
Practitioners of ritual slaughter say the animal must be alive to facilitate the draining of blood – and that throat slitting is humane.
But the new research suggests otherwise.
Adam Rutherford, an editor of Nature, wrote on the Guardian website: "It suggests that the anachronism of slaughter without stunning has no place in the modern world and should be outlawed. This special indulgence to religious practices should be replaced with the evidence-based approaches to which the rest of us are subject."
Some European countries, such as Sweden, require all animals to be stunned before slaughter with no exception for religions. But such a ban in Britain would be hugely controversial – and would draw inevitable comparisons with the ban on kashrut enacted by Nazi Germany in 1933**.
This is Victimhood Poker on a grand scale. On one side we have the meat is murder/animal welfare brigade, on the other, the massed ranks of Islam and Judaism.
Could be a cracker, especially if the EU and PETA get involved too. A gold-plated, lefty, righteous, tag-team classic bout.
On which side, for example, is vegan seal-hugger Kerry McCarthy, with her significant Islamic electorate, going to come down? My guess would be that her animal-loving nature will find itself quickly suppressed in the face of the potential local backlash.
This could develop over time. I mean, it's not like the plaintiffs lack power, influence, or financial backing, is it?
Looking forward to the fireworks and awkward self-absorbant in-fighting already.
** I don't know why that should bother them, it's not like they haven't copied certain 1930s Germany legislation already.
