Animal cruelty

djmc

http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/french-slaughterhouses-to-be-inspected-in-animal-abuse-probe/

I might be showing my age and it was a long time since I was in a slaughter house or abitor
What is wrong with the way the cattle in the video are being slaughtered
My understanding it takes a certain amount of time for animals to die after being shot or stuned and need to be bled while the heart is beating to have good clean meat .
Is there a better more animal friendly way of doing it now as l thought that would be normal practice after the animal was stunned.
Nothing seemed to be done in anger no beating animals etc.
So is it animal cruelty or just the world gone mad.
Not asking about the morality of killing animals or eating meat just how could a small abitor do it better.
I think it would be a shame to close places like that down as it would be the finish of people or smallholders to rear their own food and be only left with what the supermarkets pass for food.

kay 9

Not much to add to your topic but the halal method is alot worse. They say stress effects the tenderness and hormone levels in meet etc but the halal steaks must be like leather. There was no stunners yrs ago and the meat was ok.
They're not supposed to be able feel anything after the stunner though.

freedominacup

If the journalism is as good as the maths I wouldn't give the article much credence. 305m tonnes?????

At 300kg carcasses that'd be around a billion cattle.

patsy_mccabe

I saw cattle being killed for Halal years ago and it was fairly gruesome to watch. They were hanging upside down, throats slit and still kicking all about them.
Shot to the head. Instant and painless death. They deserve that at least.:mad:

El_Duderino 09

I don't have a huge problem with the stunner. I don't care that their heart continues to beat, as long as they can't experience any pain after the stunning.

I think seeing animals get killed would out a lot of people off eating meat. Making the informed decision to stop eating meat is a sensible decision if you don't support the way animals are killed for meat.

Sorry if this is off topic, OP.

benneca1

In first few minutes two in box at same time not allowed and a good few of the cattle were not stunned properly so reacted to sticking. They should be out cold when stuck. Dunno how long this was shot over but if this is over a short period then a new gun should have been gotten

_Brian

This is always going to be a divisive subject. Animals being dispatched in a commercial manner is never pretty. My dad trained as a butcher in the 50's when they killed in a shed out behind the shop, all animals were killed by slitting the throat and bleeding out. He argued that this done on a small scale where animals were handled slowly and in singles was far superior to the commercial handling facilities even with stunning..

We have a long term Vegan in the family and obviously she thinks we're barbarians for eating meat. Footage of slaughter plants just reassures her that she's right and we're mad.

benneca1

Is not about pretty just if animal is not out cold when you try to stick it you shoot it again. I know it happens but should not be happening this often so the owner/gaffer has a case to answer. Footage of job done right might not be pretty but is obvious the animals don't feel it. My only question would be over how long did they shoot this footage If was over a number of months is a lot less band than all same day.

CallofGuti

freedominacup wrote: »

If the journalism is as good as the maths I wouldn't give the article much credence. 305m tonnes?????

At 300kg carcasses that'd be around a billion cattle.

Exactly, thought I was the only one. Disaster of an article. The clickbait revolution has made it to farming media.

20silkcut

I know of an incident in a factory where a mad Friesian bull rose up after being stunned after being ejected from the stunning crate. Went mental there was lads running all directions. I think they had to shoot him in the end.

De horning big horns is more barbaric than what's in that video. Even with the anaesthetic the roars out of them are fierce.

CloughCasey1

20silkcut wrote: »

I know of an incident in a factory where a mad Friesian bull rose up after being stunned after being ejected from the stunning crate. Went mental there was lads running all directions. I think they had to shoot him in the end.

De horning big horns is more barbaric than what's in that video. Even with the anaesthetic the roars out of them are fierce.

Couldn't agree more. Head in skulling gate and four legs off the ground buck leppin and you'd hear the roars 4 miles away. Hoor of a job.

djmc

benneca1 wrote: »

In first few minutes two in box at same time not allowed and a good few of the cattle were not stunned properly so reacted to sticking. They should be out cold when stuck. Dunno how long this was shot over but if this is over a short period then a new gun should have been gotten

Don't know any animals I have seen stunned like that always move after muscles twitch and contract for a while afterwards.
Once they drop after being shot they are as out cold as they can be.
If it's not done right they will not drop and would get up and run after going in like the bull mentioned above.
I worked in a butcher shop and abbitor for a short while in the early 90s.
Any farmer who had the misfortune to have to have a cow put down by knackery would tell you the same they do kick a bit after the bolt gun.

_Brian

I don't think we need to be telling ourselves they feel nothing. Commercially Killing an animal brings a level of distress with it no matter how it's done. It can and mostly is minimised to a level that we as consumers are happy with it.

BrownTrout

Is the stunner some type of taser thing or does it shoot a bullet or a spike or what?

Cavanjack

Just looked at a couple of minutes of the clip. The cattle hanging getting their throats slit were clearly conscious and were trying to fight off the men. thought it fairly barbaric myself. The two cattle getting stunned together didn't do much for me either. I would hate to rear cattle for a couple of years to have their life ended like that. The halal method is nowhere near as bad as that IMO

djmc

BrownTrout wrote: »

Is the stunner some type of taser thing or does it shoot a bullet or a spike or what?

The stunner for sheep and pigs is like a Taser an electric current is passed through the brain knocking them out.
Cattle are shot with a capsion bolt gun (stun gun) It uses a blank bullet that pushes out a long bolt on a spring into the brain and it recoils back into gun instantly

Never wrestle with pigs

That knocking box is piss poor and unsafe for both animal and the idiot leaning into it to stun them. A correct knocking box would stop all that crap.

BrownTrout

A lot of that kicking and twitching looks like death throes and the nervous system shutting down.

Same thing happens to rabbits when they're shot, stone dead but they kick and twitch for a few minutes after.

To be fair, the workers don't look to be "abusing" the animals, they never make to hit them or anything, just doing their job is the way I see it.

J.O. Farmer

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

That knocking box is piss poor and unsafe for both animal and the idiot leaning into it to stun them. A correct knocking box would stop all that crap.

There seemed to be quite a bit of poor stunning but looking at that box it's no wonder. It looks like it was designed for stunning elephants rather than cattle. There's a degree of precision in stunning and that box made it very tricky.

J.O. Farmer

BrownTrout wrote: »

A lot of that kicking and twitching looks like death throes and the nervous system shutting down.

Same thing happens to rabbits when they're shot, stone dead but they kick and twitch for a few minutes after.

To be fair, the workers don't look to be "abusing" the animals, they never make to hit them or anything, just doing their job is the way I see it.

In fairness a lot of the kicking looked like that. I'd say at least half the animals that was the case. Some animals looked poorly stunned though.

In relation to the workers I thought it was cruel on them nevermind the animals. Poorly stunned half tonne animals can do a lot of damage. A number of times I was thinking how is the worker not getting hurt.

gozunda

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

In fairness a lot of the kicking looked like that. I'd say at least half the animals that was the case. Some animals looked poorly stunned though.

In relation to the workers I thought it was cruel on them nevermind the animals. Poorly stunned half tonne animals can do a lot of damage. A number of times I was thinking how is the worker not getting hurt.

A broiler chicken with head removed - both body and head will continue to move even though not connected. The autonomous nervous system means that muscles continue to contract and move after death.

Capercaillie

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

There seemed to be quite a bit of poor stunning but looking at that box it's no wonder. It looks like it was designed for stunning elephants rather than cattle. There's a degree of precision in stunning and that box made it very tricky.

Look like small cattle being stunned. Most cattle will be a lot larger being killed and will be a lot easier to stun.