Millions of animals are suffering unnecessarily by being slaughtered without stunning to meet religious demands.
That's why we campaign to end religious exemptions to animal welfare laws.
Animal welfare law requires animals to be stunned before slaughter to minimise their pain, suffering and distress. The only exemption is for Jewish and Muslim communities to meet kosher and halal religious dietary preferences.
The scientific consensus is clear that it is more humane to stun an animal prior to slaughter. The slaughter of animals without pre-stunning is permitted in the UK despite a recommendation by the government's own advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), that the practice should be banned. FAWC concluded that animals slaughtered without pre-stunning are likely to experience "very significant pain and distress".
RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming and the British Veterinary Association all support an end to non-stun slaughter to improve animal welfare at the time of death.
- 70% of Brits think stunning animals before slaughtering them is more ethical.
- 72% of the population think food produced from religious non-stun slaughter methods should be clearly labelled.
We support the right to religious freedom. But this is not an absolute right. Religious exemptions shouldn't be made to laws meant to prevent unnecessary animal cruelty.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to end the religious exemption that allows animals to be slaughtered without pre-stunning.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
MPs cite “overwhelming” public support in debate on non-stun animal slaughter
Posted: Tue, 24 Feb 2015 13:38
MPs have debated ending non-stun slaughter, after a petition to end the religious exemption to animal welfare laws was signed by over 115,000 people.
The Westminster Hall debate on Monday 23 February was led by Conservative MP Phillip Hollobone, and was triggered by a petition backed by a range of organisations, including the National Secular Society. Mr Hollobone began by noting the very high levels of public support for ending non-stun slaughter. He also suggested better labelling of meat products, and called for a system where meat was labelled as stun or non-stun, and where packaging specified if meat was halal or kosher.
However, the former Minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Sir James Paice, said that because 80% of halal meat comes from animals which are stunned first, it would "be inviting people to discriminate on religious grounds" if food was labelled as halal, rather than over concerns about animal welfare. Sir James added, "We are talking about welfare, which has nothing to do with religion".
Mr Paice said that after witnessing non-stun slaughter at a halal slaughterhouse he regarded the killing of an animal without stunning as "repugnant". He told MPs "It should be stopped" but said he accepted there are "constraints on taking that final step".
Several MPs said that the debate was not about religion; however Mr Hollobone said that the issue could not be understood "unless we tackle the religious dimension". Hollobone noted that religion was "the elephant in the room." He added that "the Muslim and Jewish communities have a lot of persuading to do if they want their point of view to win the day."
Diane Abbott said that her "local Muslim community" was concerned that the debate was not "really about animal welfare" and was "some sort of covert attack on them and their way of life." She said she was not at the debate to speak about "the technicalities or detail of the issue, but about how it is seen by communities." She called on MPs to "avoid a narrative that makes it sound as if one is trying to say that communities of faith are backward or mediaeval, or unnecessarily cruel to animals." Matthew Offord MP claimed that many people felt "under attack".
The Government's response to the petition stated that "there would be no ban on religious slaughter in the UK."
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs stated that: "The Government encourages the highest standards of welfare at slaughter and would prefer to see all animals stunned before they are slaughtered for food. However, we also respect the rights of the Jewish and Muslim communities to eat meat prepared in accordance with their religious beliefs."
A rival petition to "protect religious slaughter" has now reached over 100,000 signatures. An RSPCA-commissioned poll showed that 77% of the general public want non-stun slaughter to end.
In May 2012, the Food Standards Authority published research that indicated 3% of cattle, 10% of sheep and goats, and 4% of poultry was not pre-stunned before slaughter.
After the debate, MPs voted simply to state that they had "considered the petition".
Stephen Evans, campaigns manager for the National Secular Society, said the time had come for Parliament to act: "The scientific consensus is clear that when carried out correctly, the pre-stunning of animals prevents them suffering unnecessarily at the time of slaughter – which is why UK and European law requires it.
"Despite widespread concerns over farm animal welfare, the number of animals not being stunned before slaughter is on the rise. The time has therefore come to do the right thing and remove the exemption, and stop allowing religious considerations to compromise animal welfare."
The debate can be read here.
100,000 join vets and secularists in calling for an end to non-stun slaughter
Posted: Fri, 30 Jan 2015 14:03
A petition calling on the Government to promote animal welfare by ending a religious exemption that allows non-stun slaughter has passed 100,000 signatures and will be considered for a debate in Parliament.
The petition has been backed by the National Secular Society along with a range of expert agencies and organisations including the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the RSPCA.
UK and EU animal welfare law requires that animals be stunned before slaughter in order to minimise suffering. However, an exemption allows Jewish and Muslim slaughterhouses to slaughter animals without stunning, in order to conform to their religious beliefs.
According to Jewish law and to Islamic customs, animals must be slaughtered by a single cut to the throat and be healthy and uninjured at the time of death. Jewish groups and some Muslims have interpreted this to mean that animals can't be stunned.
BVA president Blackwell said: "This is a truly fantastic result for animal welfare. BVA has long argued that all animals should be stunned before slaughter to render them insensible to pain and we are delighted that the British public has got so firmly behind our campaign. Consumers value the high welfare of British produce and care deeply about the provenance of their food.
"But under the current legislation meat from non-stun slaughter can end up in the food chain unlabelled as such, which is completely unacceptable. Scientific evidence tells us that non-stun slaughter allows the animal to perceive pain and compromises animal welfare."
Reaching 100,000 signatures requires that the Backbench Business Committee consider it for a debate in the House of Commons. However the e-petition website will close on 31 March due to the general election and it is not yet clear whether the Committee will be able to accommodate a debate.
Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said: "Given the overwhelming public support this campaign has received, surely the time has come for MPs to debate the appropriateness of allowing religious considerations to compromise the welfare of animals."
The vast majority of e-petitions fail – either because they are rejected or because they do not reach significant numbers of signatures. The non-stun slaughter petition is only the 15th to reach the 100,000 signature mark and is currently the 4th biggest and top trending petition on the site.
When the petition reached 10,000 it received an official response from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, stating that although the Government "would prefer to see all animals stunned before they are slaughtered for food" they have no plans to end the religious exemption which allows non-stun slaughter to continue.
Many Muslims accept pre-stun slaughter and it is estimated that around 80% of Halal meat in the UK comes from animals that have been pre-stunned. However, figures from the BVA revealed that in the past year there has been a 60% increase in non-stun slaughter.
Some commentators have attributed this to campaigning by conservative Muslim groups, who do not recognise meat that has been pre-stunned as halal, and who have been putting pressure on halal slaughterhouses to stop the practice. The Telegraph reports that some Muslims also mistakenly believe that stunning kills animals.
