CAIRO: On the Autostrade road south of Cairo, a walking distance from the city of the Dead, lies the Basateen slaughterhouse. Once inside its gates, the smell of blood cannot be mistaken as cars carrying in live cattle queue side by side with others carrying out meat.
As herds await their turn, slaughtered animals lie in front of giant grimly painted hangars and are either sold to customers seeking low price meat before Eid or transported to markets. Inside the hangars, in blood-stained clothes and knives strapped around their waists, butchers operate quickly and skillfully, but not necessarily mercifully.
When large herds are brought for slaughter, many of the butchers ignore merciful techniques of laying the animal on its side and swiftly cutting its throat with a sharp knife, away from the rest of the cattle; rather they jab knives directly into their throats one after the other.
Reda El-Feqy, a butcher, has been working in the slaughterhouse for 20 years. While he acknowledges that this method is "haram" — religiously forbidden — he says that sometimes they have no other choice.
"Some hangars aren’t properly equipped and the animals are in a rage and can’t be controlled leaving the butcher no other choice," he said.
"Also there have been many new butchers who aren’t very skillful," he added.
Tarek Al-Nawawy, another butcher, says that such practices are commonplace and sees no problems with them.
"If the animal senses fear, as people say, it will attack us,” he said, “Even Saudi Arabia adopts the same methods without any objections."
Citing "cruel animal treatment," Australia stopped exporting its sheep to Egypt for slaughter on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha.
“As a direct result of Animals Australia’s exposure of cruel treatment in Egypt, tens of thousands of Australian sheep will be spared unimaginable cruelty, while international outrage at Egyptian treatment of animals has sparked nationwide public and political focus in Egypt about the importance of animal welfare,” Animals Australia, an Australian-based animal rights organization said in a statement on its website.
The cattle market is at its busiest every year before Eid Al-Adha as Muslims who can afford it are obliged to buy cattle of any kind to sacrifice after the Eid prayer and distribute its meat among the poor, relatives and friends.
The problem for camels takes further dimensions.
Brought from Sudan on foot, sick camels are left on the side of the road to die. When healthy ones are slaughtered, butchers tie their legs with ropes and two men hold them down as a third butcher slaughters it, after which a group of men proceed to climb on top of the animal to keep it under control.
Animal rights and religious violations
Amina Abaza, head of the Society for the Protection of Animal Rights in Egypt (SPARE) condemns the "bloodshed in the name of religion" that takes place during Eid Al-Adha.
"Unfortunately many people’s understanding of Islam is superficial so they buy more than one sheep and slaughter them creating a massive bloodshed; although, this money could be redirected to other more useful things," she said.
"Some people treat the animals terribly and attempt to slaughter them by themselves, although they can’t, as a way to show off in front of others, thinking that they are implementing the sharia — Islamic law — while what they are doing is forbidden," Abaza added.
When the animals are scared, Abaza said, that butchers sometimes sodomize them to force them to move.
"People don’t realize that animals have the same feelings and love of life as we do; but we have grown cruel even to humans. We hear about family members killing each other on the news, so it isn’t strange to find such treatment to animals," Abaza said.
"Islam has put regulations for the slaughtering process ensuring that the animal is well treated before, during and after slaughtering and those who defy these rules are punished," said Sheikh Saber Taalab, former member of the Islamic Research Center.
According to Taalab, the animal should be handled gently, slaughtered away from other animals with a very sharp knife, reducing the pain.
"The purpose of the whole process is shedding blood as a sacrifice to Allah and being merciful to animals is an integral part because the animal will testify on those who maltreated it defying Allah’s orders," Taalab said.
The maltreatment of animals, especially before the Eid season, begins when the animal is first bought and transported in the back of trucks or cars, blindfolded and tied.
Not only do they challenge Islamic teachings, but such practices also negatively affect the quality of the meat as Nada Khalifa, professor of meat health control at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Cairo University, argues.
"Maltreating the animal before slaughtering can decrease the quality of meat; also if the animal smells the secretions of other dead animals, it can go into a frenzy," he said.
"Certain areas must be dedicated for the slaughtering process, as opposed to the random slaughtering which floods the streets with blood that can be a good carrier of microbes and diseases," Khalifa added.
Both Taalab and Khalifa urged Muslims before Eid Al-Adha to hand the task of slaughtering animals to professional butchers for the sake of the animals as well as the consumers.
"When amateurs take a long time, the meat becomes volatile for microbes," Khalifa said.
"If slaughtering takes place according to Islamic teachings, the animal will produce the best quality of meat as the body gets rid of its blood in the best humane method," he added.
"People need to understand their religion right and existent laws punishing maltreatment of animals must be enforced," Abaza said.
