The leaders of three Egyptian churches have criticized the government for executing pigs "alive." They described executing pigs through burning them with chemical substances and then burying them in lime while they are still alive as "barbaric and merciless."
Father Matthias Nasr Manqarious, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary at Ezbat al-Nakhl, confirmed that he still thinks that the decision to get rid of pigs is sectarian.
He asked: "Why has an innocent animal been executed without having any disease, especially as all international organizations concerned with health confirmed that the swine flu virus transmission from human to human is faster than from animals to humans? The disease appeared in some countries although they have no pigs."
The government's way to get rid of pigs is random and unacceptable, he said, adding that pigs are creatures and they should not be treated in this brutal way.
Priest Ekram Lamei, head of the Information and Publishing Committee at the Evangelical Church, agreed with Manqarious, saying: "The government's way of getting rid of pigs shows brutality in dealing with a living being, and is violent, and hurts feelings."
Civilized nations anesthetize animals before slaughtering or executing them so as not to suffer because they are living beings and have rights according to Lamei.
Lamei added that the simplest humanitarian and religious norms stipulate that we should take care of animals. How could we claim piety and then express ourselves in this bloody savagery?
Father Rafiq Greish described the scene of executing pigs while they are alive as "unbearable", adding: "the government deals with the crisis randomly."
