Together with humane-slaughter specialists from Bristol university, Eyes on Animals inspected this slaughterhouse near Izmir in Turkey. Cattle were being forced to fall down in trip-floor boxes, getting one leg shackled by heavy chains and then being fully hoisted off the floor, all while fully conscious. While hanging upside down by one leg they had they throats cut. 500kg of hanging agony.
A large supermarket chain (originally with its headquarters in Europe) buys its beef from this plant for its Turkish stores. The pain is so great that the cattle, normally silent sufferers, scream. Because cattle have a vertebral artery that continues to supply the brain with oxygen after the throat cut, they remain conscious and sentient for some time (even up to minutes) after their throats are slit. Today we brought a captive bolt stunner and explained how it worked. The manager was curious and asked that we use it to render 5 cattle unconscious prior to slaughter, so that he and the workers could see how it works. He is not sure to be able to incorporate stunning yet, but will talk to his clients and authorities about it. He did promise us to at least stop hoisting the cattle fully off the floor by one leg and instead cut their throats when they are lying on the ground. We will remain in touch with him and also the large supermarket chain. Despite captive bolt stunning being largely unknown in Turkey and some halal certifiers close-minded to new ideas, we hope that via respectful discussions and working together we can improve conditions inside cattle abattoirs in Turkey. Watch this film from today to see the difference between shackling and slaughter while fully sentient, and shackle and slaughter while unconscious.
