Improving animal welfare in poultry slaughterhouses. How to reduce stress, suffering and ease handling.
Due to advantages in animal welfare and meat quality, gas stunning systems are becoming more and more popular. In the Netherlands almost all broiler slaughterhouses have switched to gas stunning systems that use low concentrations of CO2 to render birds unconscious. Ducks and most laying hens though are still stunned by an electric water bath even though for these birds gas stunning is also a more humane option. In the past few years Eyes on Animals visited several European poultry slaughterhouses to observe bird behavior and welfare during transport, handling and stunning.
