The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1911-08-05

In handling the calves and sheer
they certainly are far more humane
| than We are. They are never caught
up by the hind leg and swung down
an overhead trolley to the butcher
who waits to plunge his knife into
the throat. They are laid on Their
SIDES on low rack from two to two
| and half feet high, and held there
while the throat is opened Alas
thev are not stunned before the
knife is used! They are, however.
SHARED the jerk of the. chain aroma
the hind leg that hauls them nm ar.
ter 70 hang for minutes before haina
killed. =5@,e1oi : peins
me swine are stunned before be-
ing bled, but in the most brutal
manner, and not for any humane
reason. Fifteen or twenty are driven
into pen. then. because ST is 50 So
much easier to "stick, them dead
than alive. man, with 1nng.
handled wooden mallets watches his
chance and deals them. between +ha
eyes, or attempts to, the fatal blow
More often he must strike three or
four times before he renders tham
unconscious. That the sl1fferinp is
great no one denies. The yeterin-
ary accompanying me declared if
more than inhuman Many women
We're assistants in the killing and
dressing of the swine. One woman
was seen as a regular butcher Of
steers and cows. Some also as
sisted in the slaughter Of calves
and sheep
Thev still follow the ancient Gus
tom of removing the hair from swine.
which is not by dropping the car
cass into boiling water, brt, after
the animals are dead and the bleed
ing process finished. the carcasses
are laid out on the stone floor.
twenty. perhaps, in a row, and then
covered with straw which IS set on
fire. This burns the bristles nearly
off They are turned over, covered
with fresh straw, which is set burn
ing, so that when they are taken
uD the scraper easily removes all
that is. left Of the hair. This prin-
tive method we had never seen be-
fore.
The Hebrews have the same priv
|ilege here as in our country to do
their own slanghtering in their own
wav. The animal is drawn IN by a
hind leg. the head bent back and
the knife used without any blow to
render unconscious.
The calves were the finest and
largest we have ever seen. Scarcely
arlv that were not asYaral weeks
old and to several
M
/ born cal YES
not handled in droves. hut each na1f
by a leather collar and rope. The
wagons that transport them from
the trains are supplied with these.
Thousands daily are thus led about.
One is impressed with the fact
that speed is not the supreme re.
n'lirement as in our own country
They take time. far more than we
do. in the work of slaughter.
Whether this is for humane res
sons or not we cannot say. Quite
likely it is not
L All these ahattoirs are old ones,
built nearly fifty years ago. The
plans have been drawn for a great
modern one which. is soon to he
constructed and is TO cost forty mil
lion francs. In this new structure
the latest and most anproved meth
ods will be adopted. Electricity will
play a large part in all the mech
anical devices to be emDloyed. The
experiment will be tried of killing
all the animals bv electricity before
bleeding. So far it#has been deemed
too expensive to be practical, The
hope is that in the new abattoir 1t
can be accomplished without the
cost rendering it prohibitive.
On the whole, France has, as yet,
made little progress in the tslaugh-
tering Of animals. 1t is Germany
that has taken the lead. There
humaner methods have been devised
that put France and England and
America to shame. Let US hope
that Paris, in its new abattoir, will
outrival even Germany in it's efforts
to rob the slaughter-house of its
worst barbarities and to set us all
an example of how to take the lives
of these creatures sacrificed to
mans appetite in the least painful
way. God grant it!
The Housewife and the Fly.