TITLE XL AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
CHAPTER 427 LIVESTOCK AND MEAT INSPECTION
Humane Slaughter
Section 427:33
427:33 Terms Defined. –
As used in this subdivision the following words and phrases shall be construed as follows:
I. The term "slaughterer" means any person, partnership, corporation or association regularly engaged in the slaughtering of livestock;
II. The term "livestock" shall include but not be limited to cattle, steer, oxen, horses, swine, sheep, goats, as well as domesticated strains of buffalo, bison, llamas, alpacas, emus, ostriches, yaks, elk (Cervus canadensis), fallow deer (Dama dama), red deer (Cervus elephus), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), poultry, rabbits, and other species of animals susceptible of use in the production of meat and meat products;
III. The term "humane method" means:
(a) Any method of slaughtering livestock which normally causes animals to be rendered insensible to pain by a single blow or shot of a mechanical instrument or by electrical, chemical or other means that is rapid and effective, before being shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut; and
(b) The method of slaughtering in accordance with the ritual requirements of any religious faith that prescribes a method of slaughter whereby the animal suffers loss of consciousness by anemia of the brain caused by the simultaneous and instantaneous severance of the carotid arteries with a sharp instrument, provided that the method used in bringing the animal into position for slaughter causes no injury or pain which can be avoided without interfering with the requirements of ritualistic slaughter or without imposing unreasonable economic hardship.
IV. The term "holding pen" means enclosures or yards where animals are held or handled before slaughtering.
Source. 1985, 72:1. 1998, 310:1, eff. Aug. 25, 1998. 2014, 97:4, eff. Aug. 10, 2014. 2017, 145:4, eff. Aug. 15, 2017.