Canadian slaughter houses and the issue of stun free slaughter

[Catherine]

Technically animals are stunned before their throats are cut. If you watch the video in this article you will know that too often they are still conscious.
The issue in this article is stun free slaughter. It is a religious exemption that allows the animal to have its throat cut without stunning, while it is fully conscious. The animal is supposed to be  unconscious before it is hung up to bleed out. That would mean stopping to check before the animal hung up. 
Stun free kills floors don't want to do that because it would take longer. The group Animal Justice is fighting for the wellbeing of the animals.
They want some precautions take during stun free slaughter.

European countries require stunning of the animal after its throat is cut in a stun free slaughter. Some countries, including Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Slovenia have banned stun free slaughter altogether.


https://animaljustice.ca/blog/court-halt...-slaughter

I want to say it is a complicated issue, but really it isn't. We kill animals to eat them. In theory we do it humanely, but we routinely allow some groups to skip the steps that make it more humane. The way we process animals for killing is not humane. Allowing some groups to skip even the minimum of humane behavior shows us up as not being humane at all.

Canada is not a shinning example in this subject.

[LPC]

Good post, Catherine. Some religions seem to think that their God would be displeased just because an animal has not been stunned before being killed. I would have thought the opposite; if God created animals, then he would not want them to suffer before being used to fill human stomachs.

[Catherine]

It does seem shocking that people think God insists that an animal be fully aware as it is killed. It makes no sense.

The only thing I can think of that  would explain it, is that it was a way of making sure that people did not eat already dead or very sick  animals. That would have been dangerous and even deadly. Making it a religious rule ensured that people would follow it.
We know more now and understand about safe food handling so we do not need to kill animals in a cruel manner.
Of course once something has become a religious rule, it is very hard to change it.

I think some countries are trying to sort this out and be humane. I don't think Canada is one of them.