I have been seeing a lot of posts and videos about the abuse of animals in slaughterhouses (this has been a rather old fact, I know) and I have just begun to think, why aren't these livestock animals euthanized?

We see videos of people beating chickens to death, stomping on cows, starving their animals, etc. and it is all "justified" in saying that it is how the livestock is processed. There is really no need to mistreat these animals. There is no reason a chicken should be put into a grinder whilst living, or reason for a cow to be skinned whilst living. Absolutely none.

I am not saying we need to become vegetarians to avoid hurting animals. I'm not a hippy. I know that we NEED to kill animals to eat them, but we don't NEED to mistreat them in order to eat them.

I think animals should be euthanized before being processed. For example, a chicken, it can be euthanized through a wide variety of means. You can inject them with things, gas them -- there are a lot of instantaneous options for their deaths. After they are euthanized, they can be processed, skinned, etc. in any which way. It is counter-productive for a slaughterhouse worker to have to "deal" with living animals. The animals being alive not only creates unneeded issues for the worker (as they have to restrain them, tie them up, etc.) but they way they are dealt with are just disgusting.

Some may argue that the reason animals are not euthanized in slaughterhouses is for freshness. This is a very weak argument, as no one really gets anything fresh unless they kill them themselves.
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A cow used for dairy and it's milk. Once it no longer yields produce, it can be euthanised and then slaughtered. There is no need for beating or skinning, or burning while it's alive. Just none.

Thoughts?

inb4lock

Kindness costs more.

I agree, though. I'd be happy to pay a little more for my meat if I know the animals were treated properly before they hit my plate.

Why would it be locked?

This could get heated. I guess not...

Euthanizing involves barbituates or some other chemicals that can pass of a nasty taste... or death

I would gladly pay much more just for this.

While slaughterhouses are not the best example of humanity, most animals are not abused before they are killed. We just see all the sensational video clips of the idiots.

The animals are in effect Euthanized already, it's done with a 22 caliber bullet to the base of the brain stem. Instant death for the animal.

Well injecting them with stuff isn't exactly healthy and not in a freshness way.

I don't know why they don't kill them some other way, like chopping their head off

Agree. Kill and then process rather than the processing being a dragged out form of killing.

There'll be a side note of gassing and injecting adding contaminants into the body though I can imagine.

Grew up on a dairy farm and we had cattle killed on site and then transported as well as transported alive to then be killed and processed.

I was thinking this.

Euthanizing through means of injection may taint the meat which in turn shows up in our food. This is a bad thing. But surely there is a way to euthanize without tainting the produce.

Kind of like those cleansing sprays that can be "used around food!". Cleansing sprays used to touch food in the kitchen and would spoil the food. Now sprays are food friendly and be sprayed without having to move the food away, all while killing bacteria.

But I suppose bacteria and animals are two different things.

EDIT:

@CCNA: Yea, I read that an acceptable means of euthanization for farm animals and livestock is through bullets. But I negated that in saying that a bullet may be too messy and could harm good meat. I do not know firearms, so perhaps a .22 caliber bullet isn't very explosive and simply enters the animal without destroying other parts of it.

Most people use vinegar around meat to kill bacteria.

A bullet to the base of the brain stem is euthanasia isn't it?

I am talking about cleansing sprays to be used on counter tops and appliances. In the kitchen there is food. Using a spray to kill counter top bacteria could touch the food and make it inedible.

I am not talking about cleansing food itself. I'm sure cooking it takes care of that. Like when you boil water it kills bacteria.


Like I said, bullets can be messy, it's why I didn't include it. I am thinking of euthanasia that won't physically alter the animal so as to preserve the meat. But gases and poisons may taint the meat. Bullets are a fine means of euthanasia apparently.

I don't know bullets, so I don't know if there is a non-messy bullet or not.

I wouldn't take those 'slaughterhouse abuse' videos as points of fact. They're highly edited and tampered with so we think it's a typical thing.

That's what they use at slaughterhouses, a .22 bullet to the base of the brain, it's small enough to not make a mess.

Vinegar can be used on a counter to kill bacteria... it just stinks.

Good then, we have our peaceful, clean euthanasia.


With that said about the bullets, and with this said about slaughterhouse abuse videos, I still think we should practice peaceful means of dealing with animals.

Though the abuse may not be as bad as it looks in these videos (they are propaganda for a cause, after all) there are still very inhumane ways of dealing with animals. Chickens are de-feathered in boiler type things while alive, chained and beheaded on a conveyor belt, grouped together in little coops where they starve them so as they begin to eat each other, etc. These are still issues that can be addressed, with euthanization by bullet.

The other thing to remember is euthanasia is an act of ending a life to prevent suffering. As in the case of a pet that may have an incurable condition. Animal slaughter for food may use similar methods but the motive is different. That's why it's called slaughter.

Exsanguination is one of the most common causes of death in slaughter after the animal has been "stunned" - the question would be whether a faster action and process would be more suitable than exsanguination.

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Pretty much as clean as it gets, since they can harvest the brains and other organs of the head after slaughter. (ever heard of Head Cheese? Don't look it up if you have not). I believe the bullets have a lower gunpowder pack in them, but that's probably more to economy than anything else.

Some people think the stress of the animal entering the kill floor is enough to taint the flavor of the meat. I think that was done in the feedlots before the animal is ever killed and processed.

If you ever want to see this process, there is a movie called Fast Food Nation that shows the whole slaughter process in the last scene of the movie.

Delusional dreams of peace don't solve anything. Those animals will die. Unless you intend to wait for years for the animals to die, there is no inherently 'peaceful' ways for them to die, just less brutal ones.

I'd still consider being shot in the head more "peaceful" than being boiled alive

It's just bad wording, you still get his point.

I think I do. But it seems like he might be saying 'Is there a peaceful way to kill them without killing them'. We can wish they would just be a fingersnap 'Bam, you're dead' option, but there isn't. There are only 'as quick as possible'. But the truth is, in practice, killing livestock for food hasn't changed much in a long time. We chop their heads off, use a hammer, shoot them, etc. The industrialisation of it may change, but the methods haven't changed much. Sure there may be sadists who torture them first, but I mean normal sentient beings.