David Vance SubstackRead More
Let’s start at the beginning, a very good place to start. In the UK, the law requires that animals must be stunned before slaughter in order to prevent pain. Yet, there is a legal exemption for religious slaughter (including halal and kosher methods) which allows for non‑stun killing, meaning animals may be killed while still conscious. The way I see it this exemption poses serious welfare and moral concerns and it must be closed.
A 2024 government‑survey that found that of all animals slaughtered in England and Wales, 97% of poultry and 86% of red meat animals were stunned before slaughter. But 29% of sheep slaughtered are not stunned first. For cattle, non‑stun slaughter is much less common: only about 3% of cattle by number are killed without prior stunning. Or so we are told. Overall, in 2024, around 30 million animals were slaughtered here without being pre‑stunned: approximately 26.7 million chickens 3.1 million sheep and 35,000 cattle fall into this non‑stunned group. This is horrific barbarism extended towards these animals.
When it comes to halal itself, industry and regulatory data show that a large majority of halal slaughter in the UK does involve “stunning”. About 88% of animals slaughtered for halal are stunned first in ways acceptable to many halal certifiers. This makes the non‑stun halal portion relatively small in absolute share, though still non‑trivial in scale. My problem here is that just because the stunning is acceptable to “halal certifiers” does not mean it is acceptable to us.
Why does this matter? Because animals not stunned beforehand are fully conscious during the neck cut and for some time until they lose consciousness via blood loss. For example, sheep may take 5‑7 seconds post‑cut, and cattle up to two minutes, before unconsciousness sets in. That period involves pain, distress, and fear—elements most animal welfare experts agree should be minimised. The restraint required for non‑stun slaughter is also harsher, increasing stress.
I think that Halal exemption allows for suffering that is inconsistent with our own legal standards for animal welfare. They should not be granted a free pass for practices that cause animal harm. There should also be mandatory labelling for non‑stunned meat so consumers can make informed choices. At the moment, I suspect there is much sleight of hand going on here and that many of the % figures I have quoted here are false! My friend Catherine Blaiklock has done some great investigations into this matter and the more she digs the scarier it gets. Is it possible that MOST of the meat sold in our supermarkets IS Halal, and they get around this by dissembling on the label?
The punchline is that ANY slaughter that avoids the proper stunning of the animal has to banned. I don’t care that Muslims want non stunned, we are a nation of animal lovers and we care about the welfare of the animals. Ban ALL Halal and Kosher now.
