CATTLE are almost universally stunned before their throats are cut. So
far—good! But they are still, for the most part, stunned with the
pole-axe. This weapon produces complete unconsciousness at the first
blow, _if well wielded_. _If not well wielded_——! I have been assured
that the cases of misfire amount to a very small percentage. But I can
only say, on the first two beasts slaughtered before my eyes the first
blow of the pole-axe—wielded in each case by an experienced
slaughterman—descended without effect. The animals moaned, and waited
for the second and successful blow. Thanks to the efforts of the Royal
Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Council of Justice to
Animals, the Humanitarian League, of Mr. Christopher Cash, and others,
there are now a considerable number of improved instruments for stunning
cattle in use—the Greener and Behr pistols; the Royal Society for
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals humane-killer and large captive-bolt
pistol; the Swedish Cattle-killer (used throughout Scandinavia), and
others. But the number of these improved instruments in use at present
is only a fringe to the mass of time-hallowed and uncertain pole-axes.
CALVES.—“The usual practice in this country appears to be to run the
animal up first (by a tackle fastened to its hind legs) and then to stun
it, previous to bleeding.” (Report of the Admiralty Committee.) On this
method the Committee thus commented: “This order of procedure is not so
humane, and appears to be unnecessary.” . . . “Calves should first be
stunned by a blow on the head with a club”—_i.e._, before being run up.
_When this Committee conducted its investigation in 1904, the best
humane-killers had not been invented, or were not known here._
SHEEP, with few exceptions, are not stunned before they are bled. The
method of killing them and the amount of suffering they undergo are thus
summed up in the Report of the Admiralty Committee:
“The usual method in this country is to lay the sheep on a
wooden ‘crutch’ and then to thrust a knife through the neck
below the ears, and with a second motion to insert the point
from within between the joints of the vertebrae, thus severing
the spinal cord. In the hands of an expert this method is fairly
rapid but somewhat uncertain, the time which _elapses between
the first thrust of the knife and complete loss of sensibility
varying, according to Professor Starling’s observations, from
five to thirty seconds. In the hands of an inexpert operator it
may be some time before death supervenes, and there can be
little doubt that this method must be very painful to the sheep
as long as consciousness remains_.
“At the best it is a somewhat difficult operation and yet in
practice is often entrusted to the younger and less experienced
hands in the slaughter-house, the probable reason being that
sheep are easy to handle, and do not struggle or give trouble
when stuck. . . .”
In other words, the more helpless the creature the less need for
humanity!
“In Denmark and many parts of Germany and Switzerland the law
requires that sheep shall always be stunned previous to being
stuck, and the Committee have satisfied themselves, by practical
experiments and observation, that this can be done expeditiously
and without difficulty. A small club with a heavy head should be
used, and the sheep should be struck on the top of the head
between the ears. This point is important, as it is almost
impossible to stun a sheep by striking it on the forehead. . . .
It was also clearly demonstrated that the stunning caused no
injury to the sheep’s head or to the ‘scrag of mutton’ which
could in any way depreciate their market value.”
Notwithstanding this recommendation, the Local Government Board had (up
to 1915) omitted from their model by-laws (which, as before said, are
not obligatory) a regulation requiring the stunning of sheep. In 1915,
however, they added the following alternative clause:
“9 (_b_). A person shall not in a slaughter-house proceed to
slaughter _any animal_ until the same shall have been
effectually stunned with a mechanically operated instrument
suitable and sufficient for the purpose.”
And in their memorandum they say:
“At the present time the Board understand that a ‘humane-killer’
can be got which is adapted for stunning _any kind of animal_,
reasonable in cost, and effective and simple in operation. It
appears, too, that the use of the improved instruments can
readily be learnt, so that no prolonged training is needed for
their proper manipulation.”
One can only hope that every Local Authority will now adopt this clause,
and insist on the stunning of sheep as well as of all other animals.
PIGS.—“The Committee ascertained that it is the usual practice
in _large establishments_ in England to stun pigs by a blow on
the forehead previous to sticking them, and there is no
difficulty in carrying this out, as the pig’s head is soft as
compared with that of the sheep. The Committee are of opinion
that the preliminary stunning should be enforced in all cases,
the evidence tending to show that this operation is often
limited to pigs which are so large or strong as to give trouble,
or to cases where, owing to the location of the slaughter-house,
the squeals of the stuck pigs cause annoyance to the
neighbourhood. _The Committee feel that considerations of
humanity are at least as important as those above mentioned._”
A sentiment with which most of us will presumably agree. Note, however,
that the Admiralty Committee refer above only to _large_ establishments.
Pigs still appear to be killed in ways that the following quotation
describes:
“I, with another witness, saw five pigs killed—three small ones
and two large ones. The pigs were ‘knifed’ one at a time and
allowed to wander round the slaughter-house bleeding and in a
drunken, reeling, rolling state, and at the same time uttering
most plaintive cries.” (From a letter to a daily journal.)
And Mr. R. O. P. Paddison (one of the foremost workers in the cause of
humane slaughtering) thus describes the method adopted in most of our
bacon factories:
“First the animals are hung up alive head downwards by a chain
fastened to a hind foot, and then they are stuck and bleed to
death. The work is done quickly in a collective sense—at the
rate possibly of 100 to 200 pigs an hour, but each individual
pig suffers from forty seconds to two or three minutes, and
several pigs struggle and shriek at the same time.”