Resisting calls to ban the non-medical circumcision of boys, the governments of Norway and Denmark have taken steps to preserve the practice’s legal status. Norway’s health ministry has submitted a bill that proposes placing some limitations and fees on ritual circumcision but not banning it outright, while Denmark’s health board issued guidelines stating that the…
A Danish zoo’s slaying of healthy animals proves that animal welfare concerns are a false justification for Denmark’s recent ban on ritual slaughter, a prominent European rabbi charged. Citing the need to make room for new animals and prevent inbreeding, the Copenhagen Zoo killed four healthy lions earlier this week and a healthy giraffe last…
A joint delegation of observant Muslims and Jews made the case to the Danish ambassador to the United States that his country’s ban on ritual slaughter was harmful to its reputation. Leading the 10-person delegation to meet Peter Taksøe-Jensen on Feb. 27 were Rabbi Marc Schneier, the president for the Fonmdation for Ethnic Understanding, and…
Danish Agriculture Minister Dan Jorgensen said he was open to reviewing scientific studies that present Muslim or Jewish ritual slaughter as humane. Jorgensen made the statement during a meeting Friday with representatives of Denmark’s Jewish and Muslim communities following his decision earlier this month to ban ritual slaughter, or shechitah, in Denmark. Danish Chief Rabbi…
Denmark denounces kosher slaughter as animal cruelty. Yet the Scandinavian nation allows mink farming for fur./Getty images Ritual slaughter, performed according to Islamic and Jewish tradition, is considered a humane method of slaughter under the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act (HMSLA), the United States federal law designed to decrease animal suffering. In ritual slaughter,…
Denmark’s Ambassador to Israel Jesper Vahr rejected as “very insulting” accusations by Israeli officials that the country’s ban on slaughter without stunning amounted to anti-Semitism. “European anti-Semitism is showing its true colors across Europe, and is even intensifying in the government institutions,” Israel’s Deputy Minister of Religious Services Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan said in response…
The president of Denmark’s Jewish community disputed a government minister’s claims that new regulations would outlaw all kosher slaughter in the country. “We find this an odd statement,” Finn Schwarz, the community’s president, told JTA on Thursday about statements made earlier in the week by Agriculture Minister Dan Jorgensen. Jorgensen made the statement to the…
Getty Images It seems the lions at the Copenhagen Zoo enjoyed a little kosher treat this weekend. Yes folks, that’s right: Marius the giraffe was kosher. The 18-month-old giraffe was euthanized on Sunday because of a duty to avoid inbreeding. Reuters reported that Marius was given his favourite breakfast of rye bread and then shot….
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