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Let's me return to the question of ritual slaughter, as it's a topic capable of arousing quite strong passions. In Poland (and not only), it's been raised from time to time since before World War 2. Two viewpoints are at loggerheads here: on the one side, the right of the Jews to practice their religion; on the other, the right of animals to a humane death. And also the right of farmers and the meat-processing industry to make loads of money (about 30% of the beef exported from Poland is either kosher of halal; Muslim ritual slaughter is quite similar to the Jewish one). That makes three viewpoints actually. Animal rights advocates maintain that an animal subjected to ritual slaughter without prior stunning may agonize for up to several minutes before it finally dies. What's more, in some Jewish butcheries, animals are turned upside down before they are killed; while it makes the death quicker, it also increases the level of stress prior to death. On the other hand, for meat to be kosher, the slaughtered animal must be in good health (no major injuries and no defects in internal organs; lungs are particularly closely examined after the slaughter) and conscious. And this rules out stunning.