During a 2007 undercover investigation inside a South American slaughterhouse, PETA US' investigators discovered that shocking abuse was taking place during the kosher slaughter of cattle. The slaughterhouse is located in Uruguay, the leading exporter of kosher meat to both Israel and the United States.
The abuse was especially horrific because the "shackling and hoisting" method of inversion was used, which causes cattle severe pain and fear. The following is just some of the cruelty that was documented inside the slaughterhouse:
- A team of workers "tripped" cows by tying a rope around one of the animals' legs and pulling on it, forcing the cows to the ground violently and causing them prolonged pain and stress.
- Once the animals were on the ground, a worker would stand on one of the animals' legs while other workers – including one holding the animals' heads in place with a sharp metal pole – restrained the animals so that the shochet (kosher slaughterer) could slit their throats. Some animals were forced to endure this trauma for several minutes.
- After the animals' throats were slit, they were immediately hoisted into the air by one leg to be bled out. At this facility, some cows were conscious and struggling in this position for many minutes after schechita (kosher slaughter).
- Workers began the dressing procedure – cutting into the animals' heads, necks and joints – while the animals were still conscious and able to feel pain.
To learn more about the abuse that was documented, please watch the video above.
More than 80 per cent of South American kosher slaughterhouses use the cruel and outdated "shackling and hoisting" method of slaughter. When PETA US showed the investigation video to Dr Temple Grandin – the world's leading expert on farmed animal welfare and a consultant to the meat industry – this was her reply:
"The methods used to restrain cattle in this plant were atrocious. Shackling, hoisting and holding the fully conscious animal down with four people is a barbaric way to handle cattle in a modern slaughter plant. This is total animal cruelty."
Please send a polite letter to leaders of the Orthodox Union and the Israeli Rabbinate urging them to mandate the use of modern restraining pens and prohibit the "shackling and hoisting" method.
PETA is grateful to the Jewish religion for its long history of compassion for animals and to Israel for its historic steps to improve animal welfare (such as by banning the force-feeding of birds to make foie gras). In fact, the Rabbinical Assembly, which represents more than 1,600 Conservative rabbis, continues to speak out strongly against shackling and hoisting. We believe that Jewish consumers deserve to know the truth about the kosher meat industry and the suffering that results from the "shackling and hoisting" method. Ending this practice would bring kosher slaughter laws more in line with the fundamental Jewish principles of tsa'ar ba'alei chayim (compassion for animals).
