by Prof. Cyrus Quitzon MD
Published 2 years ago
Updated 2 years ago
Many facilities kill pigs by electrocution. After being wetted down to facilitate electrocution, one electrode is placed on the pig's forehead and another on the back. An electrical current surges through the pig's brain and heart for 2-3 seconds, causing cardiac arrest and a fatal epileptic seizure.
Do pigs suffer when slaughtered?
They can only lie there, trying to breathe, their bodies racked with pain from abuse and neglect on the factory farms. A typical slaughterhouse kills up to 1,100 pigs every hour. The sheer number of animals killed makes it impossible for them to be given humane, painless deaths.
What happens when you stun a pig?
It is intended to cause unconsciousness so that slaughter may be carried out without fear, anxiety, pain, suffering, or distress. The most common methods to stun pigs are electrical stunning and exposure to high concentrations of carbon dioxide gas (CO2).
Why are pigs stunned before slaughter?
Gas stunning provides some animal welfare advantages in that it doesn't require restraint and allows pigs to be moved in groups, which reduces pre-slaughter handling stress.
At what voltage are pigs stunned with?
250 V4. stunning voltage should be at least 250 V, better higher. 5. bleeding should be done not later than 20 seconds after the end of the stunning, the time between bleeding and scalding being at least 3 minutes.
Do pigs feel pain when slaughtered?
The slaughter process has two stages: Stunning, when performed correctly, causes an animal to lose consciousness, so the animal can't feel pain. The law states that, with few exceptions, all animals must be stunned before 'sticking' (neck cutting) is carried out.
What is the most humane way to slaughter a pig?
Only use blunt trauma on newborn piglets that are less than 24 hours old. Immediately bleed out the piglet, while it is unconscious, to ensure death....The recommended methods are:firearm.stun with a captive bolt then immediately bleed out.lethal injection.
Do animals cry before slaughter?
The slaughter process often brings tears to the eyes of these animals because of how stressful the environment can be. This is one of the reasons why farmers make the animal feel comfortable during the process. There are many videos on the internet that show cows sometimes guess that they are about to die.
Is electrical stunning painful?
path that fails to go through the brain will be painful for the animal. It will feel a large electric shock or heart attack symptoms, even though it may be paralysed and unable to move. When electric stunning is done correctly, the animal will feel nothing.
How are hogs killed in slaughterhouses?
Today, the animal is rendered unconscious by electrical or carbon dioxide stunning and then immediately bled by cutting the throat. For quality reasons, mechanical means of stunning such as a captive bolt pistol are not recommended although in some abattoirs they do use it and the pigs are stunned using 80 volts.
How is a cow stunned before slaughter?
When they are stunned, animals are rendered unconscious through blunt force, electric shocks, gassing or a steel bolt that penetrates an animal's skull.
Do animals feel electric shock?
IT is well known to electricians that animals are much more sensitive to electric shock than human beings. Quite low voltages, of the order of 20 volts, are dangerous to cattle and horses.
Where do you stun a pig?
The site for stunning pigs with a captive-bolt is 20mm above eye-level, on the mid-line of the forehead, aiming towards the tail (Figures 16, 17). The muzzle of the stunner must be placed firmly against the head.
How do they stun pigs?
Pigs are stunned using a 70% to 90% carbon dioxide concentrate. They are typically loaded in groups of about half a dozen onto something like a paternoster lift, which lowers them gradually into ever higher concentrations of the gas.
Why do we stun animals before slaughter?
The stunning process ensures the animal is unconscious and insensible to pain before being bled out at slaughter. Common stunning methods include electrical stunning, captive-bolt stunning or the use of carbon dioxide gas.
How do you Recognise an effective stun when slaughtering pigs?
A well defined tonic phase, involving retraction of both front and back legs, followed by relaxation of the animal no less than 15 - 20 seconds following the stun, along with absence of breathing and a fixed position of the eye may be used to help recognise effective stunning.
12 hours ago
Electrocution A typical slaughterhouse kills up to 1,100 pigs every hour. The sheer number of animals killed makes it impossible for them to be given humane, painless deaths. Because of improper stunning, many pigs are alive when they reach the scalding tank, which is intended to soften their skin and remove their hair. Similarly, do
24 hours ago
Many facilities kill pigs by electrocution. After being wetted down to facilitate electrocution, one electrode is placed on the pig’s forehead and another on the back. An electrical current surges through the pig’s brain and heart for 2-3 seconds, causing cardiac arrest and a …
3.Electrocution of pigs infected with notifiable diseases
Url:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3962148/
31 hours ago
Over 6000 pigs infected with a notifiable disease were killed with the apparatus. Only 2 piglets younger than 1 week old were not killed by the current (1000 V, greater than 2 s.). From the point of view of animal welfare the automatic electrocution apparatus is an efficient method for killing large numbers of pigs (older than 1 week of age) infected with a notifiable disease.
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Thirty commercial pigs ranging from birth to 15 lb. were identified as ill, unthrifty or fallouts and requiring euthanasia. These animals were lightly anesthetized prior to electrocution. They were then placed in the electrocution device and a 110-120-volt current was applied for three or five seconds in Phase 1 of the study.
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Electrical stunning of pigs using high frequency electrical currents. Generally, the preslaughter electrical stunning of pigs produces commercially significant levels of carcass damage. Typically this takes the form of broken bones, usually vertebrae and shoulders, and blood spots (blood splash) in muscle tissues.
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