Humane Slaughter Association

The Council of Justice to Animals (CJA) was founded at a meeting held on 17 January 1911 to improve humane methods for the slaughter of livestock and address the killing of unwanted pets.[https://www.hsa.org.uk/about/history-of-the-hsa "History of the HSA"]. Humane Slaughter Association.[https://www.hsa.org.uk/downloads/annual-reports-and-newsletters/AR%202010.pdf "HSA Centenary 2011"]. Humane Slaughter Association. The original founders were Netta Ivory,{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000540%2F19520223&page=5|title=Justice to Animals Council|newspaper=The Scotsman|date=February 23, 1952|page=5|url-access=subscription}} and Nancy Price.{{cite book |last=Oakes |first=Charles Henry |date=1957 |title=Who's Who: Volume 109 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Who_s_who/12LruVcDYVUC |publisher=A. & C. Black |page=2446}}{{cite book |last=Wojtczak |first=Helena |date=2008 |title=Notable Sussex Women: 580 Biographical Sketches |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Notable_Sussex_Women/6P4MAQAAMAAJ |publisher=Hastings |page=59 |isbn=978-1904109150}}

The Duchess of Portland was elected President, physician Charles Reinhardt was Chairman and Robert Stewart was secretary.{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000325%2F19110308&page=5|title=Justice to Animals|newspaper=The Citizen|date=March 8, 1911|page=5|url-access=subscription}}Rixson, Derrick. (2000). The History of Meat Trading. Nottingham University Press. p. 242. {{ISBN|978-1897676318}}Lee, Paula Young. (2008). Meat, Modernity, and the Rise of the Slaughterhouse. University of New Hampshire Press. p. 108. {{ISBN|978-1-58465-698-2}} Their office was located on Old Burlington Street. Novelist Thomas Hardy was a member of the committee.Millgate, Michael. (1989). The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy. The Macmillan Press. p. 383. {{ISBN|978-0-333-46167-9}} The CJA worked with the Humane Slaughter of Animals Association which was co-founded by Norman Child Graham in 1920.{{Cite web|date=2025|title=An Extraordinary Legacy: Norman Child Graham|url=https://www.hsa.org.uk/support/an-extraordinary-legacy-norman-child-graham-|website=Humane Slaughter Association|language=en-GB|archive-date=March 29, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250329145107/https://www.hsa.org.uk/support/an-extraordinary-legacy-norman-child-graham-|url-status=live}} In 1928, the organisations amalgamated as the Council of Justice for Animals and the Humane Slaughter Association, which is most often called "the HSA".{{cite web|title=Humane Slaughter Association Newsletter March 2011|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/downloads/annual-reports-and-newsletters/News%202011.pdf|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014}} On 1 April 2016 the Humane Slaughter Association became a charitable incorporated organisation and the Council of Justice for Animals was dropped from the name.

File:Cattle Market- Everyday Life at Cattle Markets in Kent, England, UK, 1944 D22206.jpg

In the early 1920s, HSA introduced and demonstrated a mechanical stunner, which led to the adoption of humane stunning "by 28 London boroughs and later by 494 other local authorities." HSA helped improve water, shelter, and handling conditions at animal markets. It lobbied for transporting cattle by train instead of on foot, and in 1941, rail lines were built to a major slaughterhouse for this reason.{{cite web|title=History of the HSA|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/about/history-of-the-hsa|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014}}

HSA played a key role in passage of

• UK's Slaughter of Animals Act 1933, requiring mechanical stunning of cows and electrical stunning of pigs (The law excluded pig facilities without electricity, sheep, and Jewish/Muslim meat.{{cite web|last1=Leese|first1=Arnold|title=The Legalised Cruelty Of Shechita: The Jewish Method Of Cattle-Slaughter|url=http://www.jrbooksonline.com/HTML-docs/cattle-slaughter.htm|accessdate=1 July 2014}})
• UK's Slaughter of Animals (Pigs) Act 1954, which required mechanical stunning of pigs outside slaughterhouses
• Canada's 1960 humane-slaughter regulations, partially inspired by HSA's captive-bolt demonstrations in 1950
• UK's ban on live exports for slaughter in the early 1970s (reversed in 1975).

HSA was asked for its views on the UK Slaughterhouses Act 1958 and the Prevention of Cruelty and Hygiene Regulations. HSA was mentioned in the House of Lords debates over UK's Slaughter of Poultry Act 1967.

HSA aims to encourage research and development of more humane livestock-slaughter methods with its Humane Slaughter Award, which recognizes "individuals or organisations, based anywhere in the world, whose work has resulted in significant advances in the humane slaughter of farmed livestock."{{cite web|title=Humane Slaughter Award|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/grants--awards/humane-slaughter-award|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014}}

HSA has given a total of 48 Dorothy Sidley Scholarships of £2,000 each "to enable students or trainees in the industry to carry out a project which is clearly aimed at improving the welfare of food animals in markets, during transport or at slaughter." Research supported has included the welfare of sheep while transported at sea, handling methods for poultry, rejection of carcases in religious slaughter, and captive-bolt stunning of alpacas.{{cite web|title=Dorothy Sidley Scholarships|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/grants--awards/dorothy-sidley-memorial-scholarships|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014}}

In 2011, HSA gave a Research Training Scholarship for PhD research to Jessica Hopkins of the Scottish Agricultural College for exploration of humane mechanical methods to kill sick or injured chickens in emergency situations on farms, as an improvement over cervical dislocation, which is thought to not be completely humane.{{cite web|title=HSA awards Centenary Scholarship to develop humane mechanical methods for killing chickens|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/downloads/press/archive/2011-05-27%20Media%20release%20Centenary%20Scholarship.pdf|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014|date=27 May 2011}}{{cite journal|title=HSA awards research training scholarship|journal=Veterinary Record|date=2011|volume=168|issue=23|page=608 |doi=10.1136/vr.d3554|s2cid=219209952 }}{{cite news|title=Scholarship for Humane Chicken Slaughter Methods|url=http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/22733/scholarship-for-humane-chicken-slaughter-methods|accessdate=1 July 2014|agency=The Poultry Site|publisher=5M Publishing|date=27 May 2011}}{{cite news|title=UK - Killing chickens |url=http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/170611/uk___killing_chickens.aspx |agency=Meat Trade News Daily |accessdate=1 July 2014 |date=17 Jun 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111210054132/http://meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/170611/uk___killing_chickens.aspx |archivedate=10 December 2011 |df=dmy-all }} The research has been presented at several conferences.{{cite web|title=HSA Centenary Research Training Scholarship|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/news-events/news/post/6-hsa-centenary-research-training-scholarship|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014|date=14 Sep 2013}}

File:Cattle Barn - geograph.org.uk - 363207.jpg, England]]

HSA offers grants "for essential research and other projects aimed at improving animal welfare during transport, in markets and at slaughter." Past grants have addressed livestock transport vehicle emergencies, monitoring atmosphere stunning of poultry, and electrical stunning on sea bass.{{cite web|title=Grants|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/grants--awards/grants|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024082752/http://www.hsa.org.uk/grants--awards/grants|archive-date=24 October 2014|url-status=dead}}

A 2004 HSA workshop in Lochearnhead, Scotland, demonstrated an electric stunner for farmed trout. Electric stunning of farmed fish has since been widely adopted at least in the UK.

In 2011, to celebrate its centennial year, HSA organized the symposium "Recent Advances in the Welfare of Livestock at Slaughter", which was attended by 250 people from around the world.{{cite web|title=Research|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/research/research|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014}}{{cite book|title=Proceedings of the HSA Centenary International Symposium: "Recent Advances in the Welfare of Livestock at Slaughter", Historic Dockyard, Portsmouth, UK, 2011|date=2012|publisher=Universities Federation for Animal Welfare|location=Portsmouth, UK}} The event featured over a dozen presentations, including one by Temple Grandin.{{cite web|title=HSA Centenary International Symposium (June 30- July 1, 2011, Portsmouth UK)|url=https://www.nfacc.ca/pdfs/documents/HSA%20symposium%20summary%20June%202011%20FINAL%20eng.pdf|website=National Farm Animal Care Council|accessdate=1 July 2014}}

In 2013, HSA convened a workshop on Low Atmospheric Pressure Stunning (LAPS),{{cite web|title=New stunning method shows potential|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/news-events/news/post/8-new-stunning-method-shows-potential|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014|date=14 Oct 2013}}{{cite journal|title=New stunning method may offer welfare benefits|journal=Veterinary Record|date=2013|volume=173|issue=16|page=384 |doi=10.1136/vr.f6382|s2cid=219189645 }} a proposal to kill chickens by withdrawing air from a chamber over the course of 5 minutes. The lack of oxygen induces unconsciousness without a rise in heart rate and with brain activity that resembles a sleep-like state before death.{{cite news|last1=Coghlan|first1=Andy|title=Drop air pressure to give chickens a stress-free death|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029423.500-drop-air-pressure-to-give-chickens-a-stressfree-death.html|accessdate=1 July 2014|agency=New Scientist|date=7 Nov 2013}}

HSA offers training courses to farmers (large-scale, small-scale, and hobbyist), slaughter workers, and students.{{cite web|title=Training and Education|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/training--education/training--education|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014}} For example, here is a subset of the trainings HSA conducted during 2009-2010:{{cite web|title=Caring beyond the farm gate: Humane Slaughter Association Annual Report 2009–2010|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/downloads/annual-reports-and-newsletters/AR%202010.pdf|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014|page=9}}

• teaching a major UK duck farmer and processor about humane on-farm killing of sick and injured birds
• training a poultry processor in Thailand, a UK turkey processor, two retail sites for red-meat processing, and a pig processor
• training a salmon producer in Norway and rainbow-trout farmers in central Scotland
• five smallholder poultry-welfare courses and six courses on captive-bolt stunning for pigs.

HSA educational materials have won International Visual Communications Awards in 1995 and 2000 and the Meat Industry Awards Training Initiative of the Year, Poultry Welfare in 2006.{{cite web|title=HSA Education & Training|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/downloads/info/education-and-training-prospectus.pdf|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014|page=2}}

HSA also provides advice to meat producers, governments, and academics. At the request of a producer or retailer, it performs inspections of slaughterhouses and livestock markets to assess animal welfare and suggest improvements.{{cite web|title=Animal Welfare Advice|url=http://www.hsa.org.uk/advice/advice|website=Humane Slaughter Association|accessdate=1 July 2014}}

• Animal slaughter
• Fish welfare at slaughter
• Controlled-atmosphere killing
• Temple Grandin

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.hsa.org.uk/ Humane Slaughter Association]

{{Animal welfare}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1911 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Animal killing

Category:Animal charities based in the United Kingdom

Category:Animal welfare organisations based in the United Kingdom

Category:Organizations established in 1911