Search all library resources

Halal slaughter of livestock [electronic resource] : animal welfare science, history and politics of religious slaughter

This unique volume gives insight into the science of slaughter with in-depth discussion of neural communication and the welfare aspects of pre-slaughter handling and slaughter of livestock. The concepts of conscious perception, unconsciousness, stunning, slaughter and death are discussed to provide readers with an understanding of the different events that lead to the conversion of animals into carcasses and subsequently into meat. This accessible work is an excellent resource for learning about welfare issues of different techniques, as it includes historical aspects of religious and conventional slaughter with a focus on the developments around technologies. It comprises the advent of mechanical slaughter in the form of poleaxes to present day use of sophisticated stunning equipment. Moreover, the author covers key aspects of halal meat production and discusses the politics of religious slaughter with an emphasis on the increasing number of anti-halal movements across Europe, America and others. The slaughter of animals for consumption by people of faith is economically significant and has led to a race for market share by multinational retail enterprises. However, there are also ethical and political aspects of religious slaughter which have always divided opinion. The topic of this book provides an important link to the disciplines of animal welfare research, the meat industry and the food business. Scientists, students, as well as government agencies, veterinarians and professionals in food processing and slaughter technology manufacturing will find this an important account. Simplified summaries and practical notes make this reference highly readable.This unique volume gives insight into the science of slaughter with in-depth discussion of neural communication and the welfare aspects of pre-slaughter handling and slaughter of livestock. The concepts of conscious perception, unconsciousness, stunning, slaughter and death are discussed to provide readers with an understanding of the different events that lead to the conversion of animals into carcasses and subsequently into meat. This accessible work is an excellent resource for learning about welfare issues of different techniques, as it includes historical aspects of religious and conventional slaughter with a focus on the developments around technologies. It comprises the advent of mechanical slaughter in the form of poleaxes to present day use of sophisticated stunning equipment. Moreover, the author covers key aspects of halal meat production and discusses the politics of religious slaughter with an emphasis on the increasing number of anti-halal movements across Europe, America and others. The slaughter of animals for consumption by people of faith is economically significant and has led to a race for market share by multinational retail enterprises. However, there are also ethical and political aspects of religious slaughter which have always divided opinion. The topic of this book provides an important link to the disciplines of animal welfare research, the meat industry and the food business. Scientists, students, as well as government agencies, veterinarians and professionals in food processing and slaughter technology manufacturing will find this an important account. Simplified summaries and practical notes make this reference highly readable.

Online SpringerLink

Understanding animal welfare : an integrated approach

This book examines the contents, influence, and potential of a personal selection of modern books published over the last fifty years that have been relevant to improving welfare. The works selected comprise three earlier classics that mainly deal with animal experimentation and intensive farming, as well as five that concentrate on specific subject areas, namely history, science, applied ethics, politics and law, that are important to protecting the welfare of animals against suffering inflicted by humans. The books are arranged in the order of their publication date, and for each one a few related works are also mentioned or discussed. This collection provides a broad understanding of animal protection issues, and provides the necessary basis for an informed and comprehensive approach to improving the welfare of animals. The books selected have been influential and they have the potential to improve animal welfare in the future.

Online SpringerLink

Brute souls, happy beasts, and evolution : the historical status of animals

In this provocative inquiry into the status of animals in human society from the fifth century BC to the present, Rod Preece provides a wholly new perspective on the human-animal relationship. Brute Souls, Happy Beasts, and Evolution traces the historical status of animals in western civilization, and shows that current scholarship in this area is seriously deficient. Preece particularly contests the customary claims: that the Christian doctrine has denied immortality to animals, with the corresponding implication that they were thereby denied ethical consideration; that there was a near universal belief animals were intended for human use, with the corresponding implication that they were not ends in themselves, and were thus not entitled to ethical consideration; that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution had a profoundly positive impact on the way in which nonhuman animals were regarded and treated; and that the idea of the "happy beast" was merely a trope to condemn humans for their hubris and was not at all a sincere attempt to raise the status of animals. Rod Preece believes that our ethical responsibilities to animals are ill served by the current simplistic and misleading conception of the historical record, and with this book, attempts a significant re-thinking of the human-animal perspective. Brute Souls, Happy Beasts, and Evolution will be required reading for those from animal scientists to animal philosophers to animal rights activists who have an interest in the history and philosophy of animal ethics. In contrast to prevailing intellectual opinion, Preece argues that a significant number of early Christians were vegetarian; that control of nature was often undertaken not at the expense of animals but, in part, out of exasperation at their tribulations; that the Cartesian conception of animals as automata was largely rejected, especially in the English-speaking world; that Darwin's theory of natural selection had no appreciable influence on the status of animals; and, finally, that "theriophily" - the notion of animal superiority over humans - was given greater credence than is commonly recognized.

Online EBSCO University Press

HOWLoween 2023: Celebrating National Wolf Awareness Week at Stanford Libraries