Suffocation is not a Humane Ending
Over 16 hours of footage was obtained from inside a carbon dioxide gas chamber in a Smithfield Slaughterhouse in Vernon, CA.
This method of killing has gained prominence over the last 20 years, but this is the only method that is hidden from the USDA inspector’s view. Dr. Temple Grandin tried to do a study several years ago, putting cameras inside the chamber, but the company shut her study down because “they didn’t want to look inside the box.”
As the AVMA updates the Guidelines on Humane Slaughter, this new footage should be considered.
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“Jim Reynolds, a large-animal veterinarian and professor at Western University of Health Sciences, told me that was flatly wrong. He said that the videos show some pigs squealing and conscious for 40 seconds or more after being exposed to the gas.
“It was horrible cruelty to the pigs inside the chambers,” Jim Reynolds told me. “It’s a violation of federal law.’”
“Industry officials referred me to a video made of Temple Grandin, an expert on livestock slaughter at Colorado State University, showing pigs calmly descending by elevator into a gas chamber and then emerging unconscious a few minutes later.
But Grandin told me that the new gas chamber videos show unacceptable suffering — and that this suffering is probably typical of what goes on in the gas chambers.”
-Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times
“The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act states that any technique for stunning animals that’s “rapid and effective” is legal, says Justin Marceau, a professor focused on animal law at the University of Denver’s Sturm School of Law. But “it is difficult to believe that anyone could watch these videos and conclude that the method being used is either rapid or effective.’”
To ensure compliance with the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act, several animal protection groups have submitted a rulemaking petition to the USDA to require cameras inside the gas chambers.
“Assessment of the pigs’ reactions in large commercial CO2 machines will require the use of video cameras installed in the pit. “
-Dr. Temple Grandin