Today the EonA/AWF team met with the director of a Turkish slaughterhouse who was open enough to let us view the unloading and slaughter of cattle in his plant. He was curious of our opinion and open to cooperation. This plant received many cattle trucked in from the EU. He told us that some were arriving so dehydrated that their lungs were stuck to the chest cavity, and when they cut through the lungs they would break apart like sand. He named several transport companies that delivered animals in a particularly poor condition. We were not surprised by the names he listed- same as from our own reports of inspections of the livestock trucks at the EU/Turkish border. At this plant they also would rather stun the animals before slaughter, but it is not allowed. Too many customers are worried it would not then be Halal.
This plant gave a calmer impression than the last one we visited, simply because the slaughter line is slower. They move one bovine at a time through the chute to the kill box. But in several cases the handling was not acceptable and caused a lot of pain. One bull was hesitant to enter the kill box. The worker thus grabbed his tail and twisted it several times very tightly – something that causes a lot of pain (see first photo below). The bull ended up falling down (see second photo below) because he had an injured back right leg- the same leg that would seconds later be hoisted up on a chain while the bull was fully conscious.
