(NETHERLANDS / LIMBURG) The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) and the police have intervened in the past few days at an illegal slaughterhouse. Carcasses of sheep were found, as well as live animals. The sacrificial feast, an Islamic feast for which many sheep are slaughtered, started on Friday.
The still living sheep were handed over to the Animal Emergency Aid Committee. The animal welfare organisation speaks of "heartbreaking" scenes with sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
On Friday, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) and the police intervened at an illegal slaughterhouse on a farm in North Limburg. Employees found four sheep carcasses and a lot of slaughter waste, the NVWA reports. Eight still living sheep were handed over to the animal welfare organisation that is looking for shelter for them. The committee has made agreements with the NVWA about this.
The Animal Emergency Aid Committee has saved thirteen sheep from illegal slaughter in the past few days. On Thursday, the committee received a report about two sheep in the garden behind a shawarma shop in Veldhoven, Brabant.
A day earlier, sheep were found tied up in the trunks of cars in Edam and Katwoude. The NVWA confirms the incidents, but never mentions places. The NVWA does not report whether the illegal slaughterhouses slaughtered the animals because of the Feast of Sacrifice.
During the Feast of Sacrifice (Ied-al-Adha), NVWA veterinarians in slaughterhouses closely monitor whether the slaughtering is done according to the rules. Outside the slaughterhouses, there are extra checks and the service takes action after reports. The fine for illegal slaughter without stunning can be up to 103,000 euros. Offenders also risk a prison sentence of up to six years.
(Source: NU.nl)
