LAUSR

Tuva, in the Russian Federation, where ‘khoj özeeri’ means to slaughter an animal for human consumption, but also kindness and humaneness. The author states that ‘khoj özeeri’ implies a relationship with animals which is also a measure of a peoples’ character. By contrast, you opine that ‘it must be brutalising to work surrounded by death and killing every day.’ Obviously, in a high throughput abattoir, it is impossible for the workers to show the continuum of respect the Tuvans demonstrate from the birth to consumption of their livestock. My limited experience of abattoirs does not include high throughput facilities, and it is many years since I worked in a supervisory role in an abattoir. Throughout my working life I have occasionally visited local abattoirs in the context of clinical work and investigations. In my experience, abattoir workers have universally been interested in the reasons I have interrupted them, and only anxious for my safety as they go about their work. I am not naive enough to think that all abattoir workers are paragons of virtue, but know that is also true of any working community. In my experience, brutish behaviour has been towards people rather than animals, and was a demonstration of the innate character of the individuals rather than a consequence of their working environment. I have not recognised brutalisation as a character change in any abattoir workers I have met. They may do all sorts of things I do not know about, but so may all the other people I meet professionally and otherwise. No society can condone brutishness in the treatment of animals, and there has been much discussion about the likelihood that people who are brutal to animals are a danger to people. Our society does condone the killing of animals, for consumption, at the end of their useful working lives, to relieve suffering, to control disease and sometimes because they are simply unwanted. Veterinary surgeons are involved in much killing, of all sorts of animals. I cannot see that our professional status imbues us with any more ‘khoj özeeri’ than an abattoir worker, and cannot accept that an abattoir worker should be forgiven for being brutal any more than a vet should. As long as our lifestyle separates meat producers from consumers there must be abattoirs, and the continuum of nurturing an animal through its life all the way to the plate is not available to many. However, to conclude that abattoirs are ‘a place where no-one really wants to be’ is no more logical than stating that no-one really wants to be in any place of work. I have no right to pass opinions on the working practices of abattoir vets, but I do know that abattoir workers treated with respect are more likely to respect the animals they meet so briefly. If they do not show that respect they should be removed and the management practices and selection procedures of the abattoir should be challenged.