Today the EonA and TSB|AWF team met with several authorities from Dyanet (aka Ministry of Religious Affairs) and the Ministry of Agriculture. The purpose of the meetings were to show the authorities our recent footage taken during our visits of slaughterhouses in Turkey and to discuss our concerns about the level of unnecessary animal-suffering and propose steps that they could take to improve the situation. The authorities were very interested in our material. With the Religious authorities we also discussed and showed footage of animals being first stunned in Islamic slaughterhouses in other countries, and explained the welfare-advantages stunning can offer. There was certainly an interest and openness from them towards at least post-stunning, which is when the animal is rendered unconscious by a stunning apparatus right after the Ritual cut to the throat is made.
We will continue sending these authorities our reports and proposals on how they can improve animal-welfare during slaughter and politely remind them of the urgency of this matter. We remain seriously concerned about the way animals are handled and slaughtered in Turkey.
