Ismailaga Cemaati, the largest Islamic group in Turkey, has recently published a video on the topic of animal slaughter. They announce that stunning animals (rendering them unconscious prior to slitting their throats) is acceptable and Halal. The animal did not die on its own and blood still flows out, and thus there are no hindrances to using stunners on animals in Halal slaughterhouses.
Our Turkish inspectors Asalet and Berker met several times with representatives of this conservative group of Muslims over the past 2 years to explain to them what stunning is and how important it is for animals in reducing stress and pain. Asalet and Berker shared with them scientific studies about stunning, gave them footage showing animals slaughtered with and without stunning and asked them to take this subject seriously.
Now this religious group released a video where they say that stunning animals is Halal. This is a very big step in breaking the misconceptions about the criteria of Halal and at reducing the tremendous suffering of animals during non-stun Ritual slaughter.
