Sheik's Sick Sheep Ship Sequel

[Theophylact]

(Well, they're not sick yet... and maybe the ship isn't owned by a sheik... but give me points for trying.)

[ClubMed]

I don't get it, what are the protestors protesting about?

[Theophylact]

Meat, I guess...

[Theophylact]

Iraq [!] agrees to take stranded sheep

According to Billmon,

The saga began when a shipment of about 50,000 sheep from the Land Down Under was rejected by its Saudi buyer, allegedly because of a high incidence of something called "scabby mouth" (also known as "Shrub's disease").

[M_Six]

Ya see? It pays to support the US when it wants to go to war.

Of course, it pays to not support the US, too.

EDIT: Correct link now.

EDIT II: Sorry for the irritating ad.

[Mickwish]

Its about animal welfare. They don't want the second ship to drift around the Arabian Sea full of sheep no-one wants, same as the first one.

Cheers
Mick

[shahani]

I thought this was one of them Betty Bought a Bit of Bitter Butter deals.....

[ClubMed]

Doesn't it make sense that the company which tried to sell the (sick) sheep should take them back?

[Jonty]

Quote from that first link:

Mr Robertson said he viewed the option of slaughtering the sheep at sea, as proposed by some animal welfare groups, as a last resort that he would find traumatic.

Of course, the article doesn't go on to say the whole reason the sheep are being exported alive is that they are destined to be slaughtered the halal way, ie having their throats slit whilst still fully alive and being left to bleed to death.

Here's a more enlightening link:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_821970.html

[ClubMed]

Some helpful and informative links on Halal meat slaughtered in the Islamic way:

Slaughter of Animals Used for Food - scroll down the page to find this section.
Methods of slaughter
Why do Muslims slaughter the animal in a ruthless manner by torturing it and slowly and painfully killing it? quote from this link:

4. Animal does not feel pain

The swift cutting of vessels of the neck disconnects the flow of blood to the nerve of the brain responsible for pain. Thus the animal does not feel pain. While dying, the animal struggles, writhers, shakes and kicks, not due to pain, but due to the contraction and relaxation of the muscles defecient in blood and due to the flow of blood out of the body.

Cocept of Halal
The Halal Slaughter Controvesy: Do Animal Rights activists protect the sheep or the Butcher? quote from this link:

The scientific facts

A team at the university of Hannover in Germany examined these claims through the use of EEG and ECG records during slaughter. Several electrodes were surgically implanted at various points of the skull of all the animals used in the experiment and they were then allowed to recover for several weeks. Some of the animals were subsequently slaughtered the halal way by making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck, cutting the jugular veins and carotid arteries of both sides together with the trachea and esophagus but leaving the spinal cord intact. The remainder were stunned before slaughter using a captive bolt pistol method as is customary in Western slaughterhouses. The EEG and ECG recordings allowed to monitor the condition of the brain and heart throughout.


The Halal method

With the halal method of slaughter, there was not change in the EEG graph for the first three seconds after the incision was made, indicating that the animal did not feel any pain from the cut itself. This is not surprising. Often, if we cut ourselves with a sharp implement, we do not notice until some time later. The following three seconds were characterised by a condition of deep sleep-like unconciousness brought about by the draining of large quantities of blood from the body. Thereafter the EEG recorded a zero reading, indicating no pain at all, yet at that time the heart was still beating and the body convulsing vigorously as a reflex reaction of the spinal cord. It is this phase which is most unpleasant to onlookers who are falsely convinced that the animal suffers whilst its brain does actually no longer record any sensual messages.


The Western method

Using the Western method, the animals were apparently unconscious after stunning, and this method of dispatch would appear to be much more peaceful for the onlooker. However, the EEG readings indicated severe pain immediately after stunning. Whereas in the first example, the animal seizes to feel pain due to the brain starvation of blood and oxygen – a brain death, to put it in laymen’s terms – the second example first causes a stoppage of the heart whilst the animal still feels pain. However, there are no unsightly convulsions, which not only means that there is more blood retention in the meat, but also that this method lends itself much more conveniently to the efficiency demands of modern mass slaughter procedures. It is so much easier to dispatch an animal on the conveyor belt, if it does not move.

Islamic method of Slaughtering animals is better same as above link.

Do what you want with these facts.