Animal welfare must always come first over halal slaughter

THE excellent letter from Barrie Frost (Yorkshire Post, August 28) about halal slaughter should be compulsory reading for all those in power.

This barbaric practice should have no place in modern society. Just when will we have a government with the courage to take this on board and stop this cruelty once and for all?

As Mr Frost says, our rulers appear so lacking in basic decency that they are prepared to look the other way, and ignore what is going on.

This is simply neither good enough, nor acceptable. We need leaders with the guts to lead, even if it offends other people from time to time.

Animal welfare should overrule any other considerations in the 21st century.

From: Roger Crossley, Fall View, Silkstone, Barnsley.

HEAR, hear to Barrie Frost with his disapproval of the practice of producing meat by means of halal slaughter.

In my view, many practices undertaken in the name of a religious belief are suspect, but how about a belief taken from the book of basic humanity and kindness, which might say, “always try to lessen pain and suffering to all things”?

From: John Gregson, Senior Manager, Communications, Waitrose.

FOLLOWING publication of 
the letter from Barrie Frost, I would like to point out that Waitrose does not sell halal 
meat.

All of the animals that provide our meat are stunned prior to slaughter to render them insensitive to pain. Waitrose does not allow the slaughter of
 any livestock without proper humane stunning and in this regard we are monitored by 
the Humane Slaughter Association.

From; Sylvia Butler, Stansfield Hey, Sowerby Bridge.

I BELIEVE that Barrie Frost’s compelling views on ritual slaughter of animals are likely 
to chime with decent animal loving people in this country. Such killing suggests that participants to this slaughter
 are largely devoid of any sensibilities.

From: Rachel Maister, Priest Lane, Ripon.

I W AS full of admiration for Barrie Frost’s letter. Let us all have the courage to speak out against the disgraceful practice of the halal slaughter of animals. The religious belief behind it is frankly bizarre. I am not a racist, just an animal lover.

Surely, if people decide to emigrate to another country, they should abide by the welfare standards of that country and not be allowed to inflict such cruelty upheld by such an odd belief.

I feel the Government is letting us down by not taking action.