The Minister of Agriculture in Esthonia issued a statement in January expressing himself in favour of the Jewish method of Shechita. This statement was made after an exhaustive investigation had been carried out by the veterinary department of the Ministry of Agriculture, establishing that Shechita is not an inhumane method of slaughter as was alleged by the Esthonian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The Society thereupon brought an action in the High Court against the Ministry of Agriculture. The Director of the Veterinary Department of the Ministry, declared in his evidence that he had found that Shechita fully conforms with all the requirements of humane slaughtering. The contentions of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the expert evidence brought forward by it were based on theory and were not in accordance with the scientific facts. Renowned experts in all European countries of Europe had tested Shechita and had reported in its favour, finding it completely in accordance with all the dictates of humane slaughtering. He could not pass over in silence the allegation that Shechita was arcruel method of slaughtering, he said, when there was not an atom of truth in this allegation, especially in view of the fact that the method of slaughtering pigs for export employed in the slaughtering houses in Esthonia was undeniably brutal and cruel.
The Central Office for Shechita Affairs in Berlin announces to-day that the Esthonian Supreme Court has decided in favour of Shechita, dismissing the action brought against the Ministry by the Esthonian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as being without ground.
The Government of Esthonia, it is added, considers the Shechita question in the country finally settled by this decision.
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