Authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia have closed a Muslim halal slaughterhouse near Cologne, Germany

The German Animal Welfare Office received footage from the Muslim slaughterhouse “Mezbaha” in Hürth near Cologne. The video recordings were made between December 25, 2022 and January 4, 2023 with a hidden camera. The recordings show that especially sheep and cattle are brutally treated. Sheep are literally dragged into the slaughter room by their legs and tails and cattle are driven with pitchforks, which sometimes hit the animals in the face and eyes. Kicks, blows and abuse are the usual occurrences.

“The animal cruelty in the slaughterhouse can hardly be put into words, it is certainly among the worst I have ever seen,” says Jan Peifer, Chairman of the Board of the German Animal Welfare Office. The main accusation, however, is that there was repeated slaughter without anaesthesia. The sheep were brutally pushed to the ground and their throats were cut without prior anaesthesia. The slaughter of animals without anaesthesia is generally prohibited in Germany and is only possible in some federal states with an exceptional permit. However, the slaughterhouse does not have such an exemption.

After the German Animal Welfare Office informed the veterinary office on January 9, 2023, following a brief examination of the video sequences, the slaughterhouse operators’ certificate of competence was withdrawn on the same day, which means that the slaughterhouse operators were no longer allowed to carry out any further slaughtering. In addition, the veterinary office also ordered the slaughterhouse to be closed on January 9, 2023, which means that no further slaughtering may be carried out. “The veterinary office acted very quickly after we pointed it out and closed the slaughterhouse,” said Peifer.

https://www.freilich-magazin.com/gesellschaft/behoerden-schliessen-illegalen-halal-schlachthof