Ah, Africa... A work colleague and I have been comparing animal slaughtering techniques in our respective traditions. He says that for a large animal like a cow that cannot be restrained manually they will stroke its neck to calm it and then stab it downwards into the neck to sever the spinal cord. Once it has dropped to the floor they will cut its throat.
The laws of shechita do not allow that. To the best of my knowledge, nowadays in a modern kosher abattoir a cow or bull is hoisted up and held by a machine to facilitate access to its throat. What did shochtim do before these helpful machines?
I remember reading about restraining rings fixed to the floor in the Temple, and I suppose that was the standard way of shechting, but how did it practically work? Were these rings hinged? Did you have to force the animals head down? A bull will win any contest of strength, so there must have been some tried and tested technique for a slick operation.
Pictures and/or diagrams would be very helpful, but consider that sensitive readers might prefer a link to disturbing images rather than embedded pictures.
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