Let’s get this out of the way from the beginning: there is no nice way to slaughter an animal, and it’s a fact that the animal doesn’t get to choose.
Vegans and vegetarians can take a moral highpoint regarding eating animals, but even their morals can be picked apart. Environmentalists and others will argue that the vast majority of vegans and vegetarians don’t eat organic, that they buy a lot of imported vegetables (e.g. green beans from Peru) and processed food, while many pulses and crops are bought from countries where there are shortages of water and food for it’s own populations. So we do need to take care when we try to take a moral standpoint.
Most of us will have been told to do our best, probably at an early age. I recall that, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, a BBC reporter asked 400m bronze medal winner Katharine Merry if she was disappointed. The reporter and the BBC got a lot of flack for that question. The bronze medal was her best effort on the day and a great achievement. In any sporting event every athelete strives to do their best and wants to achieve their best on the day. After an event an athelete will look back at their performance, analyse it, and strive to do better.
So what’s this got to do with animal slaughter? Firstly, we must always continue to develop and improve methods of slaughter and strive to do the best for animals in all aspects of welfare from the field to the fork. It is our moral duty. Secondly, we should use the best methods available as anything less than that is unacceptable. If new better methods are available, then older methods must be phased out and replaced in the shortest reasonable timescale. It is our moral duty. Thirdly, if current methods are considered inadequate (e.g gassing of pigs) then we must develop better methods. It is our moral duty.
All religious slaughter methods fall short of being the best methods available. Any slaughter without a stun is repulsive and immoral. The respective religions don’t even agree on their religious preferences for slaughter. Some muslims accept only unstunned slaughter and criticise those muslims that accept stunned slaughter. Some muslims say that a prayer at meal time is sufficient. Some Jews find kosher slaughter barbaric and refuse to eat it. Some Sikhs argue that stunned slaughter is kinder and therefore preferred.
In her Daily Mail article, Selina Scott quoted Jeremy Benthem, philosopher and social reformer, who wrote in 1789 the year of the French Revolution:
“The question is not can they reason? Nor can they talk? But can they suffer?”
Non stun slaughter needs to be banned. All stuns must be non-recoverable. All slaughter methods must be the best technologically available. Animal suffering needs to stop. Religions don’t get to choose.