After a successful meeting yesterday with the mayor of a city in North East Turkey, Asalet from Eyes on Animals was sent to visit the local municipal slaughterhouse to teach the slaughtermen how to use a captive bolt stunner on cattle, so that the pain and fear of the animals could be reduced. We know that slaughter can never be “ humane” but what a HUGE difference this made. Especially at this plant, where the workers leave the cattle standing upright in a natural position, instead of forcing them to fall and hoisting one leg up by a chain to “ restrain” the animal. Normally cattle in Turkey are forced to fall down in trip-floor restraint boxes, then hoisted upwards by one leg, and have their necks cut, all while fully conscious. Thank you to this plant and the local mayor for being open-minded and interested in our work, so that animals can also benefit from “new” technology, such as stunners, to at least reduce some of the extreme fear and pain they normally experience. In Turkey it is impossible to buy captive bolt stunners from local companies. But we are trying to make this equipment more known and available to Turkish people. We lease out stunners for free to plants, like this one, so that they can incorporate stunning into their slaughter methods.
