IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE KNIFE: RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR KILLING FOR MEAT

This is a comment on Seamus Brand’s article in this volume entitled ‘Australian Live Animal Export: A Comparative Examination of Viable Alternatives’. It summarises current scientific evidence of the pain and suffering that is experienced by animals during slaughter. The comment begins by surveying the different measures of pain and distress in animals before moving on to present an overview of the halal, kosher and commercial methods used to kill animals. It argues that while the available evidence confirms that direct incisional killing causes pain and may lead to significant suffering in some animals, the deeper issue that must be confronted arises from the fact that even when best commercial practices are followed, enormous numbers of animals experience pain or distress in the final period of their life regardless of whether they are killed by halal, kosher or secular methods of slaughter.