Title: Why poultry should be stunned at slaughter and the welfare advantages and challenges of electrical and gas stunning.
Abstract: Poultry are stunned immediately prior to slaughter to facilitate automated processing, to minimize the subsequent death struggle and thereby minimize carcass damage and down grades, and to render the bird unconscious and incapable of perceiving pain. A stunning method for slaughter should be considered ethical if the following criteria are attained. 1) Stunning results in a rapid onset of unconsciousness within a minimal time and with a minimal perception of pain. 2) The duration of the stun induced unconsciousness persists until death intervenes. 3) There is a near zero occurrence of “under stunned” and unstunned individuals. Stunning by definition must permit the stunned animals to recover consciousness. Electrically stunned broilers should recover consciousness to the level of regaining the ability to maintain an erect posture within 120 seconds following the stun. However, electrical stunning and exsanguination (bleeding) are integral steps in the slaughter of poultry and should be evaluated together in the progression to death. In contrast, poultry subjected to electrocution or gas stunning protocols are characterized as stun-kill because by design these birds will not regain consciousness at any time point even in the absence of exsanguination. There are distinct advantages and challenges to both electrical and gas stunning protocols which will be described and discussed.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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