Brussels Parliament Votes Against Mandatory Animal Stunning Before Slaughter

It was by 42 votes in favor, 38 votes against and 8 abstentions that the Brussels deputies rejected on Friday, June 17, the draft ordinance tabled by Défi, Groen and Open VLD aimed at banning slaughter without stunning. The rejection of the text was recently pronounced in the environment committee. The vote of the Brussels Parliament provoked strong reactions from Ann De Greef, director of the animal welfare association Gaia.

"Politicians should be based on science. But that is clearly not the case. Because of them, hundreds of thousands of animals will still be slaughtered in the worst pain," she denounced to Belga. "Those who voted against the text or abstained are not Islamo-leftists. And I am not an Islamo-leftist," fumed Céline Frémault, head of the Les Engagés group who abstained. "This text is the result of inadequate work, in substance and form, and rushed in a fractured society. A debate that divides instead of bringing together," she added.