No-stun
slaughter
Animal
Abuse
[Kosher and Halal ritual slaughter. Ritual slaughter involves the killing of animals without pre-stunning. The throat is cut with a sharp knife, and the animal bleeds to death. In conventional slaughter, the animal is first stunned (e.g. with a captive bolt applied to the brain) so that it is completely unaware when its throat is cut. Animals shouldn't be killed in view of other animals (this happens with Halal killing of lambs) it would put them in fear, so the meat/blood would then be full of fear1, but pig sticking may be an OK way to kill pigs if done properly, and also other animals, and the meat is tenderer as the stunning appears to put the muscles into tension. However most animals are killed in large slaughterhouses.]
[2010 June] Is New Zealand's ban of no-stun slaughter anti-semitic? By Pete Wedderburn In the past, scientific opinion has often sat on the fence when assessing the welfare aspects of ritual slaughter, with some studies claiming to show that when it’s well done, there’s minimal pain felt. My understanding is that more recent studies strongly dispute this, so it seems as if any scientific argument supporting the killing method on humane grounds is fading.