SEATTLE (CN) - An animal welfare group claims the state illegally exempts religious groups from a law requiring humane slaughter of livestock. Pasado's Safe Haven wants the state Department of Agriculture to end the practice of "ritual slaughter" that allows packers to shackle, hoist and throw an animal before its carotid artery is cut.
"This same conduct, if performed by packers and slaughterers for nonreligious or nonritual reasons, is a crime," the complaint states.
Pasado seeks a judgment that subjecting livestock to "unnecessary cruelty and inhumane slaughter" is illegal.
The plaintiffs are represented in Snohomish County Court by Adam Karp, who specializes in animal rights cases.
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