Sustainable Use of Domestic Animals ?

September 16, 2009

Thanks to Diana for alerting me on this.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200909/20090911/article_413464.htm

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=413464 & type=Opinion & page=2 Ending

cruelty in abatoirs is driven by economics, not kindness

By Lu Chuanzhong, Wang Yue and Liu Baosen | 2009-9-11 | NEWSPAPER

EDITION

IT'S a slaughterhouse, but there's not much terrified squealing and

struggling.

Bathed in melodious music and freshly showered, a row of pigs strolls

towards their fate one by one. The are wearing special sound-muffling

helmets and they are stunned with a two-second electric shock. They don't

have time to feel fear or pain.

" We call this 'mercy killing', " said Liu Zhenli, manager of the meat

department of the Longda Foodstuff Group Co Ltd in east China's Shandong

Province, the country's largest exporter of prepared foods.

Longda's practice represents a growing trend in China's large-scale

slaughterhouses where animal welfare is being given increasing attention.

Welfare is usually interpreted as the right for animals to be free from

thirst and hunger, discomfort, pain, injury, and disease; and freedom from

fear and distress.

Chang Jiwen, a researcher with the Law Institute of the Chinese Academy of

Social Sciences, says he believes all practices beneficial to animals could

be categorized as " animal welfare. "

As China is the world's largest meat producer, humane slaughter is the

" easiest and most direct " starting point to promote animal welfare, said

Chang. He is a member of an expert team drawing up proposals for the

forthcoming Animal Protection Law - the country's first comprehensive

legislation to protect animals.

Meat export

As animal welfare is a relatively new idea in China, cruelty does happen

from time to time during the delivery of pigs to abattoirs and in their

slaughter, he said. " Animal welfare has become, in fact, a reason for some

countries to restrict meat imports from China. "

Last year, China's meat production was 72.7 million tons, accounting for 29

percent of global total output. Exports were only 742,000 tons, said Deng

Fujiang, vice president of the China Meat Assn. As for pork, the country

produced 46 million tons in 2008, nearly half of the world's total, but

exported only 142,000 tons.

Zhang Yibin, an official with the Shandong Provincial Entry-Exit Inspection

and Quarantine Bureau, said more than 100 countries have laws or regulations

on animal welfare and World Trade Organization rules also contain relevant

riders.

Because they do not meet animal welfare standards, China's meat products,

except for rabbit and cooked poultry, are barred as exports to the European

Union.

Although laws concerning animal welfare are yet to be issued, promotion of

humane slaughter started in China two years ago. In February 2007, a humane

slaughter program was jointly initiated by the World Society for the

Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Beijing Chaoyang-Anhua Animal Product

Safety Research Institute (APSRI).

The project aimed to promote rules and standards for humane slaughter and

teach workers how to carry them out. By the end of last month, more than

2,300 people from nearly 950 companies around China had received training in

animal rights and humane slaughter, said project head Jia Zili.

Humane slaughter

Last year, " humane slaughter " was officially written into the Commerce

Ministry's regulations on the killing of pigs, and a set of technical

standards on their humane slaughter was issued in December, said Jia.

Chang Jiwen and six other legal experts are putting final touches to

proposals for drafting of the country's first legislation on animal welfare

- the China Animal Protection Law.

Their proposal will protect six categories of animals, those on farms, in

laboratories, pets, working animals, animals for entertainment and wild

animals.

He said it was not yet time for China to accept a more advanced version

similar to those implemented in Western countries, as demonstrated by doubts

voiced whether the legislation was realistic for China at this timet.

" It's different from Western laws. For example, we won't require keepers to

give dogs shelters as most Chinese cannot afford that. Only people who

unnecessarily and intentionally abuse animals will be punished. "

Chang said at present most animals in China hardly enjoy all the freedoms

animal welfare requires. " But I'm convinced - along with the enhancement of

people's awareness of animal welfare - laws and regulations in this respect

will become more sophisticated and complete. "

September 16, 2009

>>The are wearing special sound-muffling

>>helmets and they are stunned with a two-second electric shock.

I thought for a moment they were talking about American college students

(with iPods) at a presidential political rally. But why else would humane

slaughter ever succeed, if not for economics? And some would ask, what is

the difference, economics or kindness...in the end, it¹s all death and pork