Ruling 2608. The method of slaughtering an animal is that four ducts must be severed completely:

1. the windpipe (trachea);

2. the food pipe (oesophagus);

3–4. the two thick arteries on the two sides of the oesophagus and trachea. Based on obligatory precaution, simply making an incision in them or severing only the trachea is not sufficient. Severing these four ducts can only happen by severing from below the protrusion from which the trachea and oesophagus separate.

Ruling 2609. It is not sufficient to sever some of these four ducts, wait for the animal to die, and then sever the remaining ducts. However, if the four ducts are severed before the animal dies, the animal is pure and lawful to eat even if all the ducts were not severed in continuous succession.

Ruling 2610. If a wolf tears apart a sheep’s throat such that none of the four ducts remains, the sheep becomes unlawful to eat. The same applies if nothing of the windpipe remains. In fact, if a wolf tears apart some of a sheep’s throat and the four ducts are left hanging from the head or connected to the body, then based on obligatory precaution, the sheep is unlawful to eat. However, if another part of its body is torn apart and the sheep remains alive and it is then slaughtered according to the instructions that will be mentioned later, it is lawful to eat and pure. This rule (ḥukm) is not exclusive to wolves and sheep.