Electrical Stunning Before Slaughter

Before slaughter, animals are supposed to be rendered unconscious so they cannot feel the pain of the knife. One method used for pigs, goats, sheep, and chickens in the UK is electrical stunning. It is far from being a humane method.

An electrical current is sent through the animal’s brain which – if done correctly with the appropriate current, in the correct place, for the correct duration, with well-maintained equipment – induces immediate unconsciousness. In practice, the picture is a whole lot messier.

Pigs, goats and sheep are crowded into a small pen where a stun operator attempts to place tongs around the heads of individual animals who are screaming and running, trying desperately to escape. In poultry slaughterhouses, the birds are shackled upside down and pulled through electrified water. Those who raise their heads miss the stun completely. Animals who are stunned incompletely may be paralysed but not unconscious.⁴ Far from making slaughter humane, stunning when done badly can make it even worse. Many slaughterhouses now use CO₂ to suffocate animals instead of electrically stunning them, which causes immense suffering but is cheaper. One thing is clear: there is no humane way to slaughter animals on a commercial scale.