This morning we conducted a follow-up inspection at a cattle slaughterhouse near Kars in Eastern Turkey. Eyes on Animals had shown the people of this plant what a captive bolt stunner was a few months ago and taught them how to use it properly to render animals unconscious prior to slaughter so that they were insensitive to the pain. Turkey, being an Islamic country, has slaughterhouses all over the country where cattle and sheep are slaughtered while fully conscious and sentient, as it was thought that stunning rendered the meat not halal. But via education and open discussion, the attitude and beliefs are starting to change. Some of the most outspoken Imams and Islamic slaughter men see the huge welfare difference stunning an animal first makes and are now accepting, even promoting it. This slaughterhouse has been stunning cattle since our last visit, and today when we arrived, we saw it in practice. It is still slaughter, which is never pretty, but what a huge difference stunning makes. When we think of the nightmares we used to have during our work in Turkey, this progress gives hope !
