Major religious festivals involving animal sacrifice raise welfare concerns about handling, transport, and slaughter of millions of animals in informal settings without welfare oversight.
Religious animal sacrifice creates welfare challenges at scale during specific festival periods. Animals transported into cities are held in informal settings without adequate food, water, or shelter. Slaughter by inexperienced individuals using insufficiently sharp implements causes prolonged suffering that Islamic slaughter guidelines explicitly seek to prevent. The welfare problems observed in practice often contradict the religious requirements: Islamic guidance emphasises that the animal must not see others being slaughtered and must be treated kindly. Supporting Islamic scholarly opinion that endorses pre-slaughter stunning, and improving slaughter skill training within Muslim communities, offers a welfare-positive path that respects religious practice.