Recent undercover CCTV footage captured by the animal welfare group, Animal Aid, revealed horrendous abuses at a slaughterhouse.
Firstly, Animal Aid are a very honourable charity. They have been responsible for a number of important investigations and reports that have uncovered animal abuse. They campaign to promote a cruelty-free lifestyle. But, because some of their work is undercover, and clandestine, such as infiltrating slaughterhouse and vivisection labs, they are political outsiders.
The recent CCTV footage that has caused outrage was notable as the abuses took place in a slaughterhouse for Halal meat.
However, this is something of a side-issue, and not the reason to boycott Halal meat. I shall return to Halal in a moment. But, I want to address the issue of CCTV in slaughterhouses first.
Animal Aid are running a major campaign to make CCTV mandatory in slaughterhouses. This is their BIG campaign at the moment. The call for CCTV to become mandatory in slaughterhouses is also the subject of a major e-petition on the Government's website. The debate about whether CCTV in slaughterhouse will have the effect of deterring abuse and prosecuting abuse is genuine. However, this is not about CCTV in slaughterhouses - the debate about the effectiveness of CCTV and its usefulness is questioned whyever it is employed.
However, this does no damage to the argument to employing CCTV in slaughterhouses. It may not be effective; but, at least, it is a strategy to try to avoid abuses in abattoirs.
The Halal meat issue should not be conflated with the CCTV issue. The method of slaughter for Halal meat causes unnecessary suffering. Customers need to boycott Halal meat where it is being sold.
Most people just aren't aware enough to think whether or not it matters if they eat Halal, so it can be sold as a selling point….
Boring discussion on marketing and advertising…
If Café A displays a sign in the window advertising Halal meat, it means people who will only eat Halal meat will go there. So, if Café B - down the road - does not sell Halal meat it will lose the customers who will only eat Halal.
Therefore, it makes economic sense for Café B to also sell Halal, because there are some consumers who will only buy Halal. However, if people who did not want Halal boycotted Halal, this gives Café B a reason not to start selling Halal. The danger with Halal is that it becomes the norm because some people will not buy meat that is not Halal. To counter-act this, we have to refuse to buy Halal.
