MUSLIM communities in East Lancashire could lose the legal right to slaughter animals without stunning, under proposals to be put forward next month by a government committee.

Under European animal welfare regulations, all farm animals must be stunned before slaughter, unless they are killed by religious methods -- known as halal for Muslims and shechita for Jews.

Both methods involve religiously-trained slaughtermen using sharp knives to cut the throats of cows, sheep and chickens and letting them bleed to death.

The Farm Animal Welfare Council, which is appointed and funded by the Government, has concluded after a four year study that Jewish and Muslim methods of slaughter are "inhumane".

But members of the Muslim community say that the practice of slaughtering animals is not cruel and should be allowed to continue.

Members of the council including academics, vets and farmers visited halal and shechita abattoirs during their study and examined evidence which suggests that cows and poultry take up to two minutes to lose consciousness after their throats are cut, while for sheep it is between 14 and 70 seconds.

The report, due out next month, is expected to recommend that Jewish and Muslim authorities find acceptable ways to stun animals before slaughter and then the Government should remove the exemption.

Upstanding Muslim community member, Ghulam Choudhry, from Tenby Close, Blackburn, said: "I think the Muslim method of slaughter should stay as it is.

"If you create a law or regulation then that should stay. If it is changed then the whole structure of the law is changed.

"This is the Islamic way of killing animals. If we change it then it is not Islamic, it is something else.

"When you cut an animal's throat the animal gives up straight away. It does not feel pain, that is the basics of halal - it is like when you cut your hand and you do not feel the cut straight away. There is no question of it being cruel to animals.

"Halal means a lot to Muslim people. I know of some people who have given up eating meat altogether if they think there is any risk of it not being halal. People are very strict about it.

"There is so much ignorance around - people are ignorant of religion. Muslims show a lot of love and compassion to animals."

Abid Hussain is owner of Rahim Halal Meat at Audley Range, Blackburn.

He said: "I personally prefer meat without stunning, but that is not up to me at the end of the day because I am retailer not a wholesaler. When I go to the slaughterhouse I put my faith in the people who are doing the slaughtering.

"In a Muslim country they might use up to 10 people to hold a bigger animal when they are killing it to make sure it doesn't move, but that isn't practical here.

"There are a lot of Muslim people in this country they should give us a little bit more benefit when it comes to slaughtering.

"It would be better health-wise if the animals are not stunned. It would better for the Muslim people and would encourage more people to buy because they would know they were getting proper halal meat.

"A lot of people don't want to buy meat if the animal has been stunned because they don't know whether it is dead or alive when it is slaughtered."