Shechitah, ritual slaughter of animals and fowl for kosher consumption, “is done so quickly and skillfully that a feeling of pain as a result of the cut is improbable,” a Cornell University expert has concluded after a study of the procedures made public today by the Research Institute of Religious Jewry of New York.
The Research Institute undertook a program of scientific research on Schechitah through Cornell University more than a year ago, according to Dr. Salomon Goldsmith, its chairman.
The study was made by Prof. H. H. Dukes. a non-Jew, who is chairman of the Department of Veterinary Physiology at the New York State Veterinary College at Cornell University in Ithaca, N. Y.
The report was based on a detailed observation by Prof. Dukes on all phases of Schechitah, including both direct examination and studies of motion pictures.
“An uninformed person watching the reactions of an animal dying” could reach “erroneous conclusions with respect to consciousness and pain,” Prof. Dukes said in his report.
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