Carter apologises for upsetting Jewish community

Agriculture Minister David Carter has apologised to New Zealand's Jewish community for comments he made about his decision to ban their religious slaughter of animals, known as shechita.

New Zealand Jewish Council president Stephen Goodman said he had received an apology from Agriculture Minister David Carter for "any offence caused" by remarks he made last week.

A spokeswoman for Mr Carter told NZPA today he said in a June 14 speech to the Association of Rural Veterinary Practices: "We may have upset a relatively small religious minority, and I do appreciate their strong feelings for this issue, but frankly I don't think any animal should suffer in the slaughter process."

His spokesman said concern had been expressed at the way the statement was worded.

"As the minister certainly did not intend to cause offence with the statement, and because he was concerned his comments may have been misinterpreted, he felt it appropriate to offer an apology."

Mr Goodman said he had since met Prime Minister John Key - whose mother, Ruth Lazar, escaped Austria on the eve of the Holocaust - to express the Jewish community's concerns.

"He was very well informed on the issue," Mr Goodman told the Sydney-based Jewish Telegraph Agency. "We are working on what is the appropriate course of action."

More than half New Zealand's sheep are killed by halal slaughtermen for the Islamic market, by cutting the throats electrically stunned animals.

But shechita slaughter requires the trachea, oesophagus, carotid arteries and jugular veins to be cut using a sharp blade to allow the blood to drain out. The animal cannot be stunned or unconscious.

Sheep, goats and poultry are likely to feel pain for between five and 22 seconds before blood loss causes unconsciousness, and welfare experts say cattle could suffer for a minute or more.

Mr Carter ruled on May 28 that all commercially killed animals must be stunned before slaughter to "ensure that the animals are treated humanely", which effectively outlawed shechita.

Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, the Sydney-based acting president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia, has said the Jewish community will do everything possible to get the decision reversed.

Wellington Jewish Council chairman David Zwartz said the Bill of Rights allowed for freedom of religious practice.

"I am sure there will be objections made that this action is an infringement of the right of Jews to observe their religion," he said.

Other countries to ban shechitah include Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, and the European Parliament has just voted in favour of a new regulation which will lead to kosher meat being labelled as "meat from slaughter without stunning".