According to the law in many countries, animals should be stunned into unconsciousness prior to their slaughter to ensure a quick, relatively painless death. The most common methods are electrocution and C02 stunning for swine and captive bolt stunning for cattle, sheep, and goats. An animal is considered properly stunned when there is no -righting reflex- that is, the animal must not try to stand up and right itself. Only then can it be considered fully unconscious. It can then proceed down the line, where slaughterhouse workers commence in cutting up its body. The act contains a broad exemption for all animals slaughtered in accordance with religious law. This generally applies to animals killed for the kosher and Halal meat market. The Humane Slaughter Act simply requires that animals be rendered insensible to pain before they are harvested. However, apparently this law is not being enforced in some instances. The HMSLA (Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act) is also criticized because, despite being the only law designed to protect livestock, it only focuses on the last few minutes of animals\\\\\\\' lives and has no effect on how they are treated beforehand, even as they are going to slaughter. No law protects animals in factory farms, where they spend their entire lives, from even the most egregious cruelty. Besides it excludes chickens, turkeys, and fish. Although It is claimed that the slaughtering of an animal with a knife without stunning (Ritual Slaughter) is the most painful method of killing, but it has been reported that the ritual slaughter when performed correctly is painless to the animal. This is because the immediate severance of both the blood and oxygen supply to the brain causes the animal to quickly lose consciousness and all sensation.

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