My husband guts them then cuts off their heads.

In western countries Halal butchers are prohibited from slaughter unless the animal is stunned with a bolt gun. They "say" a prayer without actually speaking it - it was determined that they didn't have to speak the prayer aloud.

That applies to all animals, however home kills are not so restricted - sheep farmers don't usually bother with the humane approach, and just quickly cut a sheep's throat then break its neck - not an easy job with larger animals, but I haven't seen that stop the odd farmer who couldn't be buggered getting their gun.

I think everyone who eats meat should do at least one home kill. The full monty too, just you, the animal, a knife (maybe a gun) and a shovel to bury the leftovers.

I haven't done it myself, but we used to routinely kill and eat chickens at home when my grandmother was alive. Until it became too expensive [and unnecessary considering the waste of meat], we used to routinely kill goats in the backyard for Bakr-Eid. I've killed enough rats [I admit I was squeamish for the first few] and could kill chickens for food.

I usually go early in the morning to get fresh prawns [still alive and swimming] because they taste best when they are really fresh. Sometimes its difficult to get the shell off, and we cook them in the shell. Maybe some of them are still alive?

We also get live crabs for our crab curries and boil them in that state because it makes good eats. Ghoda ghaas se dosti karega to khayega kya? [if a horse befriends the grass, what will he eat?]

Definitely. Many people don't eat crabs and lobsters on principle because of the manner in which they are killed - myself included.

UK law requires that all animals be stunned prior to slaughter with the exception of animals slaughtered in accordance with Islamic Halal or Jewish Kashrut law.

Is it just me, or does that seem a teensy weensy bit ridiculous?

I've seen people who won't eat fish if the head is on display. A culture of squeamishness.

If you're gonna eat it, its gonna hurt them at some point.

Its food.

There's a technique for killing sheep that involves slitting a fold of the belly skin and reaching in to stop its heart. I've seen it demonstrated on camera, and the sheep needed very little restraint - if it hurt, it didn't show.

But for regular folks, slitting the throat with a sharp knife is probably as humane as anything except a quick smash of the head or sufficient stun - as humane as guillotining the animal entirely, surely.

In the Miss Navajo competition pageant, one of the events the young women compete in for score is to slaughter, butcher, and prepare a meal from a sheep. The kill there is by throat slit, and the sheep - while unhappy about being pushed around- do not seem to convulse or react violently to the kill itself.

Oh I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't care how their McDonalds Happy Meal ended up dead and served with fries.
Nevertheless, I would like to think that most human beings have principles when it comes to animal welfare. We have laws in the UK that require our animals to be killed in a humane way. In that context, humane means by keeping the animal's death as calm and pain-free as possible. Now I'm of the opinion that our existing animal welfare standards need to be drastically improved and that the issue of intensive-farming also needs to be addressed. However, since when was literally bleeding to death ever considered humane?

Yet again, religion in all its irrationality wins out over common sense. Yet again, we have an example of how the world would be a better place if we learned to grow out of what is nothing more than an immature stage of societal development.