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153
During the year, the question of the various methods
adopted by the local butchers for the slaughtering of animals
was considered by the Public Health Committee, with a view
to ascertaining whether the provision of Section 9 of the
slaughterhouse hyelaws was sufficiently wide and explicit to
ensure that all animals were killed in such a manner as to
prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain.
The precise and most humane manner in which all food
animals should be killed is a somewhat difficult problem, the
solution of which will require considerable care and not a
little practical experience.
A large number of persons who have devoted much attention
to this subject claim, with commendable humanitarian
s^itiment that all animals, without exception, should be
rendered unconscious, i.e., stunned, before blood is drawn.
Many, if not the majority of butchers and slaughtermen, however,
reject this proposal, and suggest that the modern socalled
humane slaughtering implements are imperfect, liable
to failure at the critical moment of actual use, and may prove
dangerous to men engaged in the slaughterhouse.
That great care requires to be exercised in order to arrive
at a satisfactory decision is quite evident to all who have had
practical experience of the slaughtering of animals. Any new
method which may be hereafter employed to produce insensibility
as a preliminary to slaughter, must be certain in action
and practically free from risk of failure, or otherwise the
suffering of animals may be increased rather than alleviated,
especially in the case of sheep and pigs.
Members of the Public Health Committee have wisely
decided to witness the operation of the various methods of
slaughter, both old and new, and one demonstration has
already taken place.
In due course a report will be issued.