German Muslims and Jews have joined forces to fight an attempt to require stunning of an animals before slaughtering, a practice that would contradict religious methods of killing an animal by a quick slit of the throat. German veterinarians have labeled Jewish and Muslim slaughtering methods as being cruel to animals.
Stephan Kramer, general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said that stunning is not more humane and that religious slaughterers are trained to kill animals in the most humane way possible. A secular Muslim group in Berlin agreed that Muslim slaughtering methods do not involve cruelty to animals.