North Rhine-Westphalia
“Extraordinarily repulsive case”: 188 animals slaughtered in agony – the main defendant must be in custody
Several animal rights activists demonstrated against the defendant in front of the district court in Lünen
© Marc Herwig / DPA
Screaming cattle, sheep covered in blood: animals were illegally slaughtered in torture in a slaughterhouse in Selm near Dortmund. The main perpetrator has now been sentenced to prison.
The 54-year-old admitted in the trial at the Lünen district court that he had killed the animals without anesthesia according to ritual rules by cutting their necks so that they bled out. He knew this ritual slaughter from earlier in Turkey.
Slaughter of animals without anesthesia is prohibited
The processes that could be seen in the animal rights activists’ videos repeatedly pushed everyone involved in the process to their limits. Cattle weighing up to 700 kilos were hung from the ceiling while fully conscious by a single leg and floundered there for minutes before slowly bleeding out after a cut in the neck, according to the verdict. Sheep were “thrown into a heap like sacks” to die after a cut in the neck. Judge Oehrle: “Animals suffered terribly, it was terrible.”
Official veterinarians emphasized in the trial that the videos from Selm showed the worst animal cruelty they had ever seen. The animals’ agony lasted up to three and a half minutes after the neck was cut. The meat from the animals is said to have then been sold in shops in Dortmund, for example. A lucrative business, as the court found.
Slaughtering is an ancient oriental form of slaughter and has ritualistic reasons: In Islam and Judaism there are regulations according to which animals should be bled out as completely as possible during slaughter. Because believers are forbidden to eat blood.
In Germany, however, the slaughter of animals without anesthesia is prohibited. However, a middle ground has been established, explained the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Agriculture. Muslim religious communities are allowed to slaughter sheep and cattle for the festival of sacrifice (Kurban Bayram) according to their religious guidelines – but with anesthesia and under official supervision.
livestock farming
When the animal becomes a mere thing – this is how we humans treat our fellow creatures
“Soko Tierschutz” filmed the slaughter near Lünen
According to their own statements, employees of the surveillance authorities had had a strange feeling for a long time at the slaughterhouse in Selm. But there was never anything to prove, they reported in court. In spring 2021, animal rights activists secretly installed the cameras in the company and filmed all slaughters for three weeks. The organization “Soko Tierschutz” brought the case to the public.
Legally, the jury court was only concerned with the animals that were slaughtered in full view of the cameras during the three weeks in spring 2021. However, the defendants themselves indicated that animals had been killed in this way on the farm for a long time.
The verdict is not yet legally binding. The 54-year-old’s defense attorney announced an appeal and called for a suspended sentence. Before the verdict, the three men once again emphasized their remorse. “He can’t understand how he could become so numb,” said the defense attorney about one of the sons.
The case could have repercussions for the animal rights activists who used their photographs to put a stop to the slaughterhouse. A 28-year-old appeared in court as a witness and admitted having installed the cameras in the company. He is now threatened with ex officio proceedings for, among other things, trespassing.