Eid in Dagenham, East London: BACKYARD BUTCHERS Family filmed hacking up animal carcasses in their garden sparks hygiene probe by council

3 Responses

1. Apart from that the animals were probably halal slaughtered, I can’t see a problem with this. Plenty of farmers butcher their own meat in the open air.

   Urban squeamishness. Read Joel Salatin’s The Sheer Ecstasy of being a Lunatic farmer, a conservative christian farmer who has rock star status in several countries.

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2. There’s plenty wrong with this. On one level there’s the obvious violation of health and safety laws. Butchering meat in the open air on a farm might be allowed (I’d suspect that that would be only for the farmer’s own use), but a farmer has access to methods and equipment that these amateurs don’t. A farmer can bury unwanted animal parts, or even the whole carcass; he has the vehicle and equipment to transport the animal, before and after slaughter, and the methods to hang, cut, wrap, etc. And, a farmer’s neighbours aren’t forced to watch. How was this animal taken to this backyard—in a car trunk (boot)? But what’s really wrong with this blood-soaked garden in London is that it’s an affirmation of halal slaughter; it brings into British society a custom that many find horrifying and could very well violate animal welfare laws; it intrudes on other residents views from their flats (no escape from viewing this bloody scene); and, it helps move this bloody custom one step closer to becoming accepted by the mainstream.

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3. London Bobby: “Phew! What you got there in your backyard, Abdul?”
   Abdul: “Oh, just a few dozen goat and sheep carcasses for the holidays. We have some relatives flying in from Syria and we thought they could stay in the tool shed.”
   Bobby: “Okay, but don’t ask me about zoning laws – I don’t want to sound like a racist.”

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