Smooth exit

Animals marked for death in the uk may now meet a painless end. A government committee has proposed a ban on ritualistic slaughter, requiring all animals to be stunned before they are killed.

Even as current European regulations stipulate that farm animals should be rendered unconscious before slaughter, an exception is made in the case of Jewish and Muslim slaughter practices that involve killing animals by slitting their throats and bleeding them to death.

A study has found that these methods cause the animal considerable pain. But the plan is being strongly opposed by traditionalists from organisations such as the Halal Food Authority and the Campaign for the Protection of Shechita in Britain.