Decision on ritual slaughter is good for animal welfare, says minister

The European Council of Relgious leaders (ECRL) this week announced that the ritual slaughter of sheep in Belgium during the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice at the end of September will not be required. Flemish minister for animal welfare Ben Weyts is satisfied with the decision, reports De Standaard.

Muslims ritually slaughter sheep during the Feast of the Sacrifice without first stunning them, but Weyts' ban on slaughtering animals without stunning remains in force. This means that Muslims would have to use official slaughterhouses, which are allowed to slaughter sheep without stunning them, rather than the many temporary facilities set up for the occasion, which are not allowed to slaughter the sheep without stunning. But there are too few official slaughterhouses in Belgium to meeet deman.

The ECRL's decision to allow Muslims to forego the ritual slaughter of sheep this year is a good thing, according to Weyts. "It was never up to me to give an interpretation of religious rules, but I will not deny that this is a good thing for the animals," he told De Standaard. During last year's Feast of Sacrifice, as many as 30,000 sheep were slaughtered.

While the country's Muslim organisations have not yet decided whether or not they will go through with the slaughter this year, minister Weyts has said that he will not temporarily suspend the regulation for the occasion, or bow to legal threats.