In Holland there has arose a lot of consternation about halal meat and ritual slaughter without anaesthesia. According to the prescriptions of the halal an animal should be conscious prior to cutting the carotid.

At normal slaughter this procedure will be a lot more animal friendly because the animal will be anaesthetic before cutting the carotid. This anaesthetize takes place by shooting a pen through the animal’s head. The animal drops down and next the carotid will be cut while at the same time the animal will be hung by his hind leg on the slaughter line to bleed out.

Chickens will be hung by their legs first and then be led upside down through an electricity bath with the intention of anaesthetize the chickens before their neck will be ‘saw through’. The electricity bath often contains little electricity (to prevent damage to the meat) with the consequence that the chickens are not fully anaesthetic and will be conscious while cutting their neck, or in worse cases, only partly.

There is a possibility of stunning using the gas CO₂O₂. This method is slightly more expensive than the electricity bath.

A rabbit being slaughtered will be anaesthetic by a smack on the head, the rest of the procedure is as described above.

Actually the animals are anaesthetized by violence. It’s up to the reader whether to decide if the procedure using the slaughter pen, electricity bath or smack on the head is animal friendly. For whom this idea is unbearable, there is no other choice than to stop eating meat. Luckily this prospect contains more advantages rather than disadvantages.