Animal welfare before Political Correctness

It is good to see the vile practice of religious ritual slaughter falling into the mainstream media spotlight. Today in The Mirror, on Sky News and elsewhere people can read about this barbaric practice carried out in the name of religion, and hopefully some people will feel so strongly about it that they will campaign to bring this savagery to an end in Britain.

Make no mistake about it, and do not fall for the lies of animal torturers or their boot-licking PC appeasers, the practice of animal sacrifice is as barbaric as it comes.

Many years ago, and rightly so, badger baiting and cock fighting was banned in Britain. But today there is animal cruelty on a far greater scale which is perfectly lawful because the perpetrators of the torture inflict suffering in the name of religion.

The real horror of ritual slaughter begins when a terrified lamb, cow or chicken is strung upside down and a supposed holy man approaches with knife in hand. As the terrified creature writhes in agony the 'holy man' slashes the throat of the animal while chanting 'holy verse'. Eventually the blood drains and the creature dies.

This alien practice has no place in Britain - or any civilized country, but due to Political Correctness and cowardice millions upon millions of animals are killed in this way every year.

We all remember the case of the Audenshaw thug who was recently jailed for throwing a kitten from a balcony and killing it. His crime was heinous for sure, but at least the kitten had a quick death. The poor creatures condemned to die as sacrifices for alien religious practices do not have the gift of a quick death and their prolonged suffering is exactly what the savages behind the practice require. In their warped religious beliefs, the greater the suffering the better the sacrifice.

Tameside has more than its fair share of hypocritical politicians. When ever you hear of them waxing lyrical on the subject of animal welfare, do remember to challenge them to express an opinion on religious ritual slaughter.

I do not write this article in an attempt to create divisive propaganda. I write this as an animal lover who truly  is disgusted at all forms of animal cruelty. The tragedy for the animals who suffer the agony of being sacrificed in the name of alien religions is that due to the current pervasive politically correct doctrine which dominates all aspects of life in Britain, the issue of this widespread torture is rarely discussed for fear of falling foul of PC commissars.

The articles in today's media are a start, but anyone with any compassion for animals has a moral duty to make sure people understand the full horror and extent of religious ritual slaughter in Britain.

The practice is now so widespread that when you are choosing meat from a supermarket, you may very well be buying ritually slaughtered meat without even knowing it as lots of excess ritually slaughtered meat ends up on supermarket shelves.

The only sure way to avoid inadvertently adding to this cruelty is to get your meat from a farmers market or a butcher who knows the origins of the meat they sell, or even better try to become vegetarian.

Finally for those who are into sending Freedom of Information requests. It would be very helpful if we could determine if ritually slaughtered meat is being served to our children in Tameside schools without the children or their parents being aware. In neighbouring Manchester, the policy is all children will be served ritually slaughtered meat even if just a minority of pupils at a particular school require it on grounds of their religious beliefs. Does the same rule apply in Tameside?