The mail informs that the Lithuanian Parliament is considering a bill that would allow for ritual slaughtering of animals in Lithuania. The slaughtering is most often done in a way that the animal has its throat cut without any previous stunning, so the animal is fully conscious when it happens.
I would advice you to have a look at THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO, but it is not very comfortable to watch!!!
Proponents of the slaughtering method might point to religious reasons, to economical reasons, or to the "presumed fact" that the animal does not feel - or is not aware of pain.
The last argument should already be solidly refuted by scientific studies that clearly show that animals feel and notice the pain of religious slaughter:
STUDY: ANIMALS FEEL PAIN FROM RELIGIOUS SLAUGHTER
We can discuss back and forth about the intelligence of animals - I guess it to a large extent depends on what you call "intelligence", but it is clear to me from my experience with animals that they definitely are emotional beings: They feel comfort and happiness as well as pain and fear!
It is obvious to me that we have a clear and natural responsibility towards any animal that can feel pain to treat that animal in the most humane way possible. I am not against hunting and do not see the problem in Norway allowing whale hunting, but we have a responsibility to do it in a humane way. When it comes to animals that we hold and that we are using for our own good or profit, we have an even bigger responsibility to treat them with respect and to harm them from fear, pain and suffering as well as we can. And to expand the case: There are animals - I for my sake am of course talking about dogs, but feel free to include any pet! - that we through centuries have trained to watch us, obey us, live with us, and trust us. It should be an obvious thing for us as humans and society to see it as our responsibility - our debt to them - to treat them with the utmost respect!
Why? For so many reasons: First of all because of respect for the animal itself. But also because how we treat our animals says something about - and probably affects - how we treat human beings.
The article above - "unfortunately" in Norwegian - calls for a dedicated animal police in Norway, and refers to a psychologist that says that many of her violent patients have a pre-history of violence against animals. it is hard to say what comes first in their case, but it seems clear to me that a society that teaches - also by example - respect towards animals also teaches respect towards fellow human beings. A society that treats animals with cruelty will also teach cruelty towards humans. A dedicated animal police seems btw. for me to be an of-course thing to have!
Those that know me also know - or can easily guess - that I am on the liberal side politically, but I do not see a single reason to give in to religious arguments (not to speak about economical) for ritual slaughtering of animals. If we think inflicting pain on animals is wrong - then it should be absolutely wrong and non-negotiable, just as well as we would not give in to demands to allow the infliction of pain on humans based on religious reasons. I cannot imagine a situation where eg. Norway would allow the beating of children just because of any group's religious or traditional reasons.
Ban it! If anyone wants to complain about that - let's take that fight!
Please, go to this site to sign a petition to ban religious slaughter in EU:
https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/ban-religious-slaughter-in-the-european-union
And as for Lithuania, go to this site:
http://peticijos.lt/visos/71432
Sign it, and spread it!!!
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