Breakfast Radio
- Owen Atkinson
- Apr 25
- 2 min read
I don't get asked every day is to take part in a breakfast radio phone-in show, so when the Voice of Islam radio station got in touch, I was delighted to accept their invitation to be interviewed about animal welfare on UK dairy farms.
You can take a listen to the interview here. If you listen to the end, you can also hear the excellent Dr Michelle Reeves, Research Scientist in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Edinburgh University. And finally, a small section on the teachings of Islam with regards to halal slaughter.
My sister had a question for me about this...the presenter says that all meat in UK is, by law, slaughtered consistent with the halal method. Immediately she worried I think about the welfare implications here; for example did this mean that animals are slaughtered whilst still conscious? Please be reassured, this is not the case, but the presenter is still correct: the halal method DOES allow pre-stunning, which must occur by law in UK. (Unfortunately, I believe there are still rare exceptions where slaughter is allowed of sheep to proceed without their pre-stunning and this is specifically for Shechita, or kosher, meat which some followers of Judaism may still insist upon). The halal principle however, by my own understanding, is to ensure a pain-free and fear-free slaughter, so very much consistent with the UK law.
Anyway, enjoy the listen! I have added the snippet as a sound file below, or if you'd like to listen to the whole show from the start, click on the image below where I put a link to the Sound Cloud. My part is about 1hr 10 mins in.
