Has Sharia-Creep In UK Finally Met Its Match: Animal Rights Activists!

The Daily Mail is in a tizzy:

A Mail on Sunday investigation – which will alarm anyone concerned about animal cruelty – has revealed that schools, hospitals, pubs and famous sporting venues such as Ascot and Twickenham are controversially serving up meat slaughtered in accordance with strict Islamic law to unwitting members of the public.


All the beef, chicken and lamb sold to fans at Wembley has secretly been prepared in accordance with sharia law, while Cheltenham College, which boasts of its ‘strong Christian ethos’, is one of several top public schools which also serves halal chicken to pupils without informing them.

Even Britain’s biggest hotel and restaurant group Whitbread, which owns the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre chains, among many others, has admitted that more than three-quarters of its poultry is halal.

What I find most ironic about this is the extent to which animal rights activists are willing to go--using the same measures against halal meats that pro-Palestinian groups use against Israeli products: labeling and boycotts:

But it is animal rights groups which have been most vociferous in their opposition to halal slaughter. Campaign organisation Viva!, whose supporters include Heather Mills and Joanna Lumley, said in a statement: ‘Other practices which may be undertaken for religious reasons, such as polygamy or the stoning of adulterers, are not permitted in the UK.

‘Religious freedom does not override other moral considerations and the suffering caused by this form of slaughter is so severe that it cannot be allowed to prevent action to be taken. Consumers can do their bit by boycotting places that persist in selling meat from unstunned animals.’

...The RSPCA [Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] says all meat produced from animals that have not been stunned before slaughter should be clearly labelled so that it can be easily identified by consumers.

I don't know if people really feel that strongly about the humane treatment of animals--or if those raising the issue see it as a safe way to react against growing Muslim influence in Great Britain. Unfortunately, if there is a large backlash against the ritual slaughter of animals in the UK, it is going to be directed against the kosher slaughter of animals as well.

It will be interesting to see how this develops.

More at Memeorandum!

Technorati Tag: Halal and Shechita.