Poland declines to investigate ‘shehita’

In case of local Jews, Bialystok attorney waives country’s law prohibiting slaughter without first stunning the animal

14 April 2013, 7:09 pm Edit

Illustrative photo of a kosher butcher slaughtering a chicken. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – Prosecutors in Bialystok declined to open an investigation into Jewish ritual slaughter in the northeastern town of Tykocin.

Prosecutors acknowledged that it did not violate Polish law.

The prosecutor began investigating the March 12 shehita, or kosher slaughter, of a cow in the northeastern town of Tykocin after hearing about it from a county veterinarian in Bialystok.

Urszula Sienczylo, chief prosecutor of Bialystok, said the Animal Protection Act prohibits slaughter without stunning, but the 1997 Act on the Relation of the State to the Jewish Communities in Poland states that ritual slaughter may be performed in accordance with the needs of the local Jewish community.

Beginning Jan. 1, Poland banned slaughter without stunning. The Ministry of Agriculture announced that it will introduce changes that will again allow ritual slaughter.