Government moves to end CO₂ gas slaughter for pigs

Six months ago, Project Slingshot launched our first ever UK campaign to expose the horrors of gassing pigs to death – a method of slaughter the industry had long claimed to be “humane”. But when the public was shown the truth via our London Underground adverts, high-profile media stunts and social posts, they were horrified and they demanded change.

Governments have known for two decades that pigs feel distress, fear, and pain when they are gassed to death with CO₂ because their own advisers told them so. It was never an acceptable method of slaughter, but the industry has long had a way of getting its own way and the issue was kicked into the long grass.

But things are changing. Project Slingshot’s campaign brought widespread visibility to an issue that many others had already been working to end. Now we know what can be achieved when we work together to dismantle the industry’s misleading claims, expose the truth, and stand up to the factory farm giants. Thank you to all those who took action, who shared our work, wrote to their MP, and talked about this issue with their friends and family. This is how we change the conversation, and how ultimately we will change the system.

Government consultation

As part of the democratic process of ending CO₂ slaughter for pigs, the government has launched a consultation, which is open until 21st December. The industry is fighting it, and will try to delay or derail this change in the law, but every one of us can have our say.

Issues you may like to raise:

• The current proposal is to replace CO₂ with argon in those same gas chambers but the government’s own advisory board says: “Inert gases… do not render the animals near-instantaneously unconscious” and the suffering will continue. We do not think it is acceptable to replace one inhumane system with another and therefore advocate for an outright ban on gas chambers. 

• Who will pay for this? Cranswick, one of the leading pig factory farming corporations in the UK, has a turnover of £3 billion, and its chief executive landed a £5.3 million pay package. And yet, the industry wants taxpayers to fund this change instead of paying for it itself. We advocate for the industry to pay, not taxpayers.

• We need to end the importation of meat from animals who were gassed to death with CO₂ in other countries. Without an import ban, nothing really changes. 

What’s next for Project Slingshot?

We called for an end to CO₂ slaughter for pigs and the government listened, but it would be wrong of us to put the bunting out just yet. We are glad to have played our part in ending the horrors of CO₂ gas chambers, but this was never about switching one gas for another or ending just one unjustifiable practice. 

There are a multitude of unjustifiable practices that prop up factory farming. Industrial pig farms still lock pregnant sows inside farrowing crates, while their piglets spend their whole lives in filthy, stressful conditions which drive them to harm one another. Salmon farms have appallingly high mortality rates, while continuing to pollute waterways with toxic chemicals. Mothers are separated from their calves on dairy farms, chickens are so lame they can barely stand up, and whole communities are blighted by the impacts of this industry. We have a long way to go to dismantle this unjust system but we are very glad to be under way. 

Help us topple the next domino

The government had promised to ban CO₂ slaughter for pigs last December but promises like that can sit in a drawer for years. Our high-profile campaign made sure it didn’t. 

It took eight weeks of advertising on every line of the London Underground, a documentary, a projection onto Parliament, and a team that kept going while the industry hoped we’d run out of money and go quiet. And then, when they thought we had, we brought the campaign back to the London Underground for another month.

Factory farming is like a row of dominoes. Farrowing crates. Frankenchickens. Salmon cages. Calves taken from their mothers. Each practice has been hidden for years, and each one can fall the same way as CO₂ gas chambers: expose it, name the companies behind it, and give people a way to act. We want to end factory farming in its entirety and we know our campaign strategy works. What decides how fast the rest of those dominoes fall is how much pressure we can afford to apply.

Your donations enable us to keep the posters up and the pressure on.