French Court Upholds Ritual Slaughter Practices, Rejects Animal Welfare Group’s Challenge

The association was requesting "the annulment of the implicit refusal by the Minister of Agriculture and Food to its request.

This was aimed at modifying the provisions of Article R. 214-70 of the Rural and Maritime Fisheries Code to make compulsory, for the ritual slaughter of cattle, either irreversible stunning immediately after bleeding, or reversible stunning prior to bleeding, subject, in the latter case, to prior validation of the techniques".

However, it did not prevail. In its decision, the Council of State specified that the national regulations on ritual slaughter, which do not require prior stunning of animals, do not disregard European law or the prohibition of inflicting cruelty on domestic animals.

This decision delighted the Collectif Halal en danger. It welcomed the fact that Muslims and Jews are entitled to slaughter animals without prior stunning. However, the Collective is playing the vigilance card. According to it, the OABA "will not stop there".