Killing a Sheep

Warning:

What you'll see in these pages are graphic pictures of animal slaughter.

For these farmers, this is a way of life -- the circle starts again.

Statement:

We are story-telling photo-documentarians. We provide these images as part of our work to illuminate the millennia old traditions of landed peasants.

Dealing with life, death and suffering, as these images do, they are likely to stir strong emotions in our viewers. Before judging their lives or our intentions, we invite you to explore these more thoroughly at our Romania Site.

Sharpening the knives

Slaughtering the Sheep

For those interested in the debate over Animal Rights and their use as a food source:

Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals.

and

Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy.

For more check our books page.

Thursday, November 11, 1999:

Purchased for the end Preparing for the Kill

The sheep followed along, obedient, as all sheep are wont to do.

The kill

Even when it was thrown to the ground, it didn't struggle. It was only when his knife began to cut its throat that the fighting began.

Too late

But by then it was too late. The end had come.

Dragging to the rack

For the humans though, the job was just beginning.

They dragged it from the small pool of blood to cleaner ground.

Cutting the leg

Cutting began by stripping the skin from the back legs.

Hanging up

They broke the legs off below the back knees,...

Hanging

and hung the body up with a stick between the leg bones.

Starting the skinning

Then carefully, oh so carefully, they began stripping off the skin.

Shearing the skin

It takes a strong arm to punch and pull the skin off.

Opening the chest

Then they opened up its sternum.

No blood was left, and at this point we realized their hands were clean.

Taking out the guts

Carefully they began sorting out good parts from bad parts.

Going through the intestines

They pulled out the intestines hand over hand so as not to cause a nasty smelling rupture...

All the parts

The sheep cost them 110,000 Lei, and they'll sell the skin back at market for 40,000 Lei. The small bowl holds the delicious parts and the bigger basket holds the stomachs and blood organs. They'll wash out the stomachs and feed them to their dog.

Meat Cutlets

At some point along the way, it ceased looking
like an animal and became a thing instead.

Cat gets his licks

Their cat makes sure it's not forgotten.

Back to Slaughter Page

HOME				TRAVEL LOG
FINE ARTS PHOTOS				LINKS
PURCHASE				MEET US