Ever heard of the term stunning?
Stunning is a way to weaken animals through stunning before the slaughter so that when animals are slaughtered they don’t move much. Now, the stunning method in modern abattoirs (RPH) is commonly used.
At the beginning of its appearance, the stunning method gives rise to pros and cons. Some argue that stunning reduces pain in animals when slaughtered. Some others argue that stunning actually adds to the pain in animals, even the risk of making animals permanently injured to death.
Even so, public opinion says that stunning is a form of animal walfare (animal welfare). This was conveyed by Deputy Secretary General of the Indonesia Council of Ulama (MUI) in the Fatwa Division, Drs. KH. Sholahuddin Al Aiyub, M.Sc.
The Hadith of the Prophet of Muslim History from Syaddad ibn Aus said, “That Allah decreed ihsan (doing good) for each according (action). If you are tasked with killing, then in a good way you kill and if you want to slaughter, then kill in a good way. And let one of the people sharpen his knife and give pleasure to the one he hides (ie not tortured in his slaughter).”
This hadith is one of the cornerstones of the Indonesia Council of Ulama (MUI) issuing a fatwa allowing the stunning in the process of slaughtering animals. This is stated in MUI Fatwa number 12 of 2009 concerning Halal Slaughter Certification Standards.
There are three reasons for allowing the slaughter of animals with a stunning system, namely:
a. The use of machines for stunning is intended to facilitate the collapse and fall of animals to be slaughtered at the slaughterhouse as well as to relieve animal pain.
b. Animals that collapse because they are stunned at the slaughterhouse, if not slaughtered, will wake up themselves again in the fresh state as before.
c. Slaughter with a stunning system does not reduce the flow of blood flowing, even more and more smoothly so that the meat is cleaner.
Of course, the implementation of stunning is accompanied by certain requirements, including:
a. Stunning only causes animals to faint temporarily, not to cause death and permanent injury.
b. Aims to facilitate the slaughter.
c. Implementation as a form of ihsan, not to torture animals.
d. Stunning equipment must be able to guarantee the realization of conditions a, b, c, and not be used between halal and non-halal animals (pigs) as a preventive measure.
e. Stipulation of stunning provisions, species selection, and technical implementation must be under the supervision of experts who guarantee the realization of the conditions a, b, c, and d.
“Even so, slaughter as much as possible is done manually, without preceded by stunning and such,” said Aiyub. (*)
For a video explanation can be seen here:
