In Holland, there has been a lot of commotion about halal meat and ritual slaughter without anaesthesia. According to halal requirements, an animal should be conscious prior to cutting the carotid artery.
During normal slaughter this procedure is more animal friendly because the animal will be stunned before the carotid artery in the neck is cut. The animal is stunned by a captive bolt pistol to the head. The animal drops down and the carotid artery will then be cut while at the same time the animal is hung by his hind leg on the slaughter line to bleed out.
Chickens will be hung by their legs first and then be led upside down through an electricity bath with the intention of stunning the chickens before their neck are 'sawn through'. The electricity bath often contains too little electricity (to prevent damage to the meat) and as a consequence the chickens are not fully stunned and are partly conscious while their neck is cut, or in worse cases, fully conscious.
There is a possibility of stunning using carbon dioxide gas CO2O2. This method is slightly more expensive than the electricity bath.
A rabbit being slaughtered will be stunned by a blow to the head, the rest of the procedure is as described above.
Actually, the animals are stunned through violent means. It's up to the reader to decide whether the procedure using the captive bolt pistol, electricity bath or blow to the head is animal friendly. For whom this idea is unbearable, there is no other choice than to stop eating meat. Luckily this prospect has more advantages rather than disadvantages.
