Welfare at slaughter

Following recent letters on the issue of stunning at slaughter and labelling of meat in Veterinary Record, the BVA and the Veterinary Public Health Association (VPHA) would like to emphasise to members that its first priority is animal welfare at slaughter, which includes campaigning to ban non-stun slaughter as Ryan Waters' letter states (VR, July 22, 2017, vol 181, p 95). Despite the Conservative government's pledge to protect methods of religious slaughter, BVA, alongside VPHA, has continued to lobby parliamentarians on non-stun slaughter at regular House of Commons events and meetings; in the House of Lords, through questions and debates tabled by our honorary associates; and have raised public awareness in national, regional and trade media. Since slaughter without pre-stunning is still permitted by UK law, BVA has developed a pragmatic stance with the aim of reducing the welfare harm to those animals that are not pre-stunned at slaughter.