Live sheep/cattle trade update (February-ritual slaughter celebration]

[Guest guest]

Apparently this month is the month of Aid-el-Kebir when ritual slaughter of

sheep is commonplace in Muslim

Countries.

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For Australian information about live sheep/cattle etc trade

Visit http://www.pacat.org

 

" Once unloaded the animals may be kept in feedlots with inadequate

facilities, often with no shelter from the blazing sun. Due to the

accumulated stresses and often poor conditions, over 150,000 more

(approximately 3%) die in the Middle- Eastern feedlots out of the over 6

million exported annually. "

 

" Next the animals face a further journey by truck for perhaps hundreds of

kilometres, often in high temperatures, to the slaughterhouse. However

reports of animals being purchased by individuals and transported in the

boots of cars are not uncommon, particularly during religious festivals. "

 

" Incredibly, after enduring all this [long trips on trucks followed by long

sea journeys while being fed with pelletised food] , an even worse fate

awaits the survivors. Pre-stunnning prior to slaughter is not normally

carried out in the Middle East, so the animals are still fully conscious

when their throats are cut by hand under the normal Muslim halal method of

slaughter. Some animals can remain conscious for as long as 77 seconds. For

all of this time they are fully aware, bleeding to death, and in agonizing

pain. "

 

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New European ritual slaughter/live animal export news

 

http://dailynews./h/ap/20020209/en/people_brigitte_bardot_1.html

Bardot Asks for Sheep Slaughter Law

Saturday February 9 9:43 AM ET

 

Photos

 

AP Photo

 

PARIS (AP) - French actress and animal activist Brigitte Bardot issued an

open letter asking Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to enforce a French law

prohibiting the slaughter of sheep outside of slaughterhouses.

 

The letter was released Friday, just ahead of the Muslim celebration of

Aid-el-Kebir on Feb. 22-23, in which sheep are traditionally slaughtered.

 

``If the slaughter of these animals is strictly forbidden outside

slaughterhouses - as decreed on Oct. 1, 1997 - the government has never

enforced its own legislation,'' the letter said.

 

The letter said the Brigitte Bardot Foundation would refer the matter to the

European Commission (news - web sites) for punitive action if laws regarding

the slaughter of animals are not respected.

 

In 2000, a French court convicted Bardot of inciting ``discrimination,

hatred or racial violence'' after she criticized, in a book, the Muslim

practice of slaughtering sheep.

 

-

 

On the Net:

 

Brigitte Bardot: http://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr/uk

 

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1809000/1809738.stm

Saturday, 9 February, 2002, 03:26 GMT

Lumley rallies against live exports

 

 

Lumley has supported animal welfare for many years

 

Actress Joanna Lumley is to lead a demonstration in central London against

the UK's export of live animals.

The Absolutely Fabulous star will address a rally in Trafalgar Square on

Saturday.

 

Hundreds are expected at the event, organised by Compassion in World

Farming, which aims to press the government into banning what campaigners

say is a cruel practice.

 

On Tuesday, the European Union lifted the ban on live sheep exports,

following the declaration that the UK was now foot-and-mouth free.

 

Sheep are exported to Spain, Greece and Italy

 

 

Peter Stevenson, political director of Compassion in World Farming (CIWF),

said animals travel to Greece, Italy and Spain on journeys of up to 90

hours.

 

He told BBC News Online: " They are packed in to overcrowded trucks and

become increasingly exhausted and dehydrated.

 

" Some get injured and others collapse on the floor and get trampled on. In

the worst cases, they die. "

 

CIWF wants a complete ban on the trade but believes farmers need not suffer,

because the animals should be slaughtered in Britain and the meat either

exported or sold on the domestic market.

 

Cattle ban

 

Mr Stevenson said the farmers receiving public subsidies should respond to

public concern and pull out of live exports.

 

And he accused the government of breaking its 1997 promise to support animal

welfare.

 

A spokesman from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said

an EU judgement prevented the government from acting.

 

He said: " We would prefer to see a trade in meat rather than live animals

transported for slaughter, but a unilateral ban would be illegal.

 

Campaigners say the trade is cruel

 

" But they must be transported in accordance with animal welfare legislation

and we enforce that and are seeking improvements in it. "

 

Other speakers at the rally include Gwyn Prosser, MP for Dover and Tracy

Sortwell, of the Women's Institute.

 

Last month, the EU's standing veterinary committee agreed to lift the ban on

the export of live pigs. Cattle exports are still banned due to BSE.