SLAUGHTER OF SHEEP AT EID-EL-KABIR

Early day motion 512, tabled 13 March 2000 by Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 45 members.

That this House condemns the outdoor ritual slaughter at the Eid-el-Kabir festival in France of thousands of sheep, many of them exports from the United Kingdom; notes that the sheep are not stunned before slaughter but have their throats cut while they are fully conscious and are then left to bleed to death; is dismayed that many of those doing the killing are untrained and thus perform the slaughter ineptly which leads to some sheep taking several minutes to die; notes that outdoor ritual slaughter is prohibited by both European Union and French law, which require ritual slaughter to be carried out in an abattoir; further notes that the European Commission and the French Government have regularly failed to enforce the law; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to prohibit the export of sheep for slaughter at future Eid-el-Kabir festivals and to press the European Commission and the French Government to enforce the law which prohibits outdoor ritual slaughter.

Signatures by party: Labour 28, Liberal Democrat 12, Plaid Cymru 2, Conservative 1, Labour/Co-operative 1, Scottish National Party 1.