The animal defence association GAIA has filed a civil action against anyone who engaged in illegal household animal slaughter at the end of June, in the context of Eid al-Adha. The association is calling for a general ban on home slaughter, it said in a press release on Friday.
GAIA is targeting three different cases relating to the illegal domestic slaughters that took place in Lens, Gaurain-Ramecroix (Tournai) and Boussu (Dour), as well as similar incidents that occurred in Tisselt in the province of Antwerp where the police, the association asserts, “found illegally slaughtered sheep in a dilapidated villa.”
GAIA will also be lodging a complaint for breaches of the Walloon Animal Welfare Code concerning home slaughtering that took place in Liège during the same period and in which the police, who drew up several official reports, intervened. Eighteen sheep were found dead, says the association.
“We should be under no illusions (…), a very large number of animals slaughtered at the home were not stunned despite the legal requirement,” says Michel Vandenbosch, president of GAIA. “This is because no private individual has the appropriate equipment enabling them to stun one or more sheep or goats using the method prescribed by European regulations.”
