Poles divided over religious slaughter of animals
Lawmakers to vote on proposition to repeal government ban on producing kosher and halal meat
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish farmers marched through Warsaw’s streets to back government plans to repeal a ban on the religious slaughter of animals Wednesday.
Lawmakers are to vote later this week on a government draft law that would reinstate religious slaughter provided it is done only in slaughterhouses and excludes certain forms of immobilizing the animal.
Until January, Poland was making good business exporting kosher and halal meat to Israel and Muslim countries, but religious slaughter was banned under pressure from animals’ rights groups that say it causes unnecessary suffering because the livestock are not stunned before being killed.
The farmers on Wednesday backed the government plan. Artists and intellectuals have issued a letter opposing it.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press