Is today’s ritual slaughter of animals (sh’chitah) humane?
Clearly, the original intent of the laws of sh’chitah, created at a time when animals were generally slaughtered with no regard whatsoever to their pain, was to kill the animals as humanely as possible. Today, all enlightened nations have humane slaughter laws. In the United States the Humane Slaughtering Act of 1978 requires stunning animals before they are killed so as to avoid unnecessary pain and the sense of impending slaughter—but the U.S. Department of Agriculture makes an exception for sh’chitah, which forbids pre-slaughter stunning. And both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have raised questions about the notoriously inhumane practices in the largest kosher slaughter plant in America (see the book Postville by Stephen G. Bloom and the exposé of cruel practices there in the New York Times, March 10, 2006). It should be an embarrassment to Orthodox Jews that their kashrut supervisors, who certify butcher shops that sell pâ
Related Questions
- Why are National Organizations like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and The Humane Society of the United States supporting Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)?
- Don the laws of shechita provide for a humane slaughter of animals so that we need not be concerned with violations of tsaar baalei chayim ?
- What is the difference between a Humane Society and a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)?
