CO2 gassing

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Carbon dioxide stunning is a method commonly used in the pig slaughter industry to render the animals unconscious prior to slaughter. This method involves exposing pigs to high concentrations of carbon dioxide gas, which induces unconsciousness and ultimately death.

The use of carbon dioxide as a stunning agent has become increasingly popular due to its relatively low cost. During the process pigs exhibit signs of distress such as vocalizations and attempts to escape the chamber.

CO2 is known to be highly aversive to pigs.7,8,9,10 Inhalation of CO2 causes acute respiratory distress through irritation of the mucus membranes. Respiratory distress causes hyperventilation, a sense of breathlessness, gasping, and suffocation. Pigs also display muscular excitation and vocalization when exposed to CO2, and all of this occurs prior to the loss of consciousness. Collaborating researchers in Denmark and Spain concluded that “the fact that these behaviours occur when the animal is conscious is evidence that induction to CO2 anaesthesia is not immediate and pigs suffer from fear, pain and/or stress during immersion into gas.”^[1]

See also