Cairo, Egypt – Pig slaughter plans have erupted into violent clashes between riot police and pig farmers who accuse the government of overreaction.
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The fighting broke out today as police arrived in a Christian area of the capital, Cairo, where pigs are raised.
Hundreds of resident, mostly youths, threw stones and bottles to prevent their pigs from being taken away.
Anti-riot police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters.
Egypt is pressing ahead with its plan to slaughter of the nation’s 250,000 pigs since Saturday, as a general health measure against the spread of Swine flu.
There have been no suspected or confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1) in the country.
UN health body, the World Health Organization (WHO), has criticized the move as an unnecessary step, as there is no evidence to suggest that humans are contracting swine flu from pigs. Pig farmers have been promised compensations.
Hopefully, the hareidim in EY will not use this as an excuse to seek to have the government destroy the small pig farms that many arab, christian and non-religous Isreaelis rely upon for their parnassah. We should not allow exaggerated public health concerns to be used as an excuse to achieve under emergency authorities what cannot othewise be done legitimately.
I dont think the disease is spread by eating pig meat, assuming that the meat is cooked properly it should kill the viruses and bacteria.
The bigger problem is breathing the air from an infected animal or human that has the virus.
I think that the egyptians are taking advantage of the oportunity toimpose the majority’s religion will over the minority. it is their way to get ahead and not to take others seriously. just another expression of what is going on in the all world and starting by not having piece with Israel because they don’tt tolerate us there, in their minds everything is theirs and their way.
it is not ok to harm hashems creations for no reason. I agree.
but since pigs are causing human illnesses there IS A GOOD REASON to butcher them.
“but since pigs are causing human illnesses there IS A GOOD REASON to butcher them.”
Eating beef is causing plenty of human illness in the form of obesity, heart disease, circulatory disease, etc. I guess ideally we should all be vegetarians. If not, then at least people should make an effort to eat less meat, perhaps 4 or fewer meat meals a week. Some people I know only eat meat on shabbos. Is it a good idea to eat meat on shabbos? My vegan friends don’t like the idea of any meat, fish, eggs, or dairy being eaten, and don’t use leather or wool. Being vegan seems quite difficult. Are there high quality suits made that are not of animal origin? I doubt it. Are there high quality shoes not of animal origin? I doubt it.
I was told that sefer torahs, tefillin, and mezuzot can be made using the skins of cattle that died of natural causes. Where can one buy tefillin or mezuzot that are certified to be of skins of animals that died of natural causes? In the US it is very rare for cattle to die of natural causes. Would certain diseases make the skin of a cow unfit for torahs, tefillin, or mezuzot? I guess in India many cows die of old age, although I guess many Indians who consider cows sacred would not like the idea of their skin being removed after they died, and many Jews might not like the idea of using the skins of animals held in such reverence for Jewish religious articles.
“Should we not eat cows and chickens now too? Such stupidity.”
Rav. Rook was a vegetarian. There were other famous rabbis who were vegetarians. There are several reasons why Jews should be vegetarians, which include concern for the treatment of the animals and animal suffering, the wastefulness of eating meat(it takes around 15 pounds of grain to make a pound of meat), environmental concerns(raising livestock consumes large amounts of water and creates plenty of pollution), human health concerns from eating meat, etc.
http://www.jewishveg.com/jv.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/rabbinicveg.html