(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-17 20:54

ZHENGZHOU -- A new draft on more humane methods to kill livestock will be sent for expert appraisal Tuesday, the Administrative Office of Livestock Slaughtering (AOLS) said here Monday.

The draft, "Technological Requirements on Humane Methods of Slaughter", prepared by the Beijing Anhua Animal Product Safety Research Institute (APSRI), recommended such humane tactics as herding pigs with plastic prods instead of electrical ones and to end an animal's life within 15 minutes of stunning them to reduce their suffering.

On December 16, China launched the first "Project on Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter" program in the central Henan Province. The framework called for livestock slaughter under humane conditions.

China planned to implement the project nationwide on a gradual basis.

An unnamed AOLS official said Henan was the country's largest meat processing province. The municipal governments there had already voluntarily issued policies on reducing an animal's pain during slaughter before the project was put into effect.

At the launch, six people were certified as trainers for teaching humane methods of livestock slaughter. According to the project, they will help spread the new methods in meat processing factories throughout Henan Province starting from next year.

The draft emphasized a merciful consideration for animals feelings during the four steps of the slaughter process. These included details on the unloading of livestock from vehicles, keeping them in sties, driving them to slaughterhouses and the actual slaughter.

"A basic requirement of the slaughter process is to stun the animal before ending its life," said Mi Yali, an expert in humane methods of livestock slaughter. "This is to reduce the degree of suffering. Animals, like human beings, can also get extremely scared."

The AOLS official added: "Since the quality of meat from China has drawn international attention, the Chinese government has conducted special treatment on this issue. These include generalizing humane methods for livestock slaughter."

"Last year, China's annual meat production was more than 80 million tons. This included more than 50 million tons of pork, about 52 percent of the world's total pork production."

He said pork exports in 2006 and the first half of this year were 270,000 tons and 83,000 tons respectively.

Last January, with the support of the AOLS, APSRI and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), a "Memorandum for Cooperation in the Project on Humane Methods of Slaughter in China" was signed.

As an achievement of this project, the slaughter draft specified standard livestock slaughter practices, such as in setting unloading platforms at proper heights for pigs to disembark vehicles smoothly without being hurt.

"This is the first time for China to propose humane methods of slaughter," said a Ministry of Commerce official. "It will take time to improve slaughter methods around the whole country. But China will continuously make efforts to advocate humane methods of livestock slaughter to the whole society."

The WPSA also called for raising people's awareness in animal protection.