On September 3rd, Eyes on Animals visited Anoxia, a company that has developed a method for farmers to euthanize animals on site in a way that does justice to animals and humans. This euthanizing happens to (mostly young) animals that are too weak or too sick to survive.
We received an extensive presentation about the use of this high-expansion foam technology, which is currently used for euthanizing piglets and poultry mainly. Anoxia delivers the equipment in a concept, which gives the farmer a complete manual on euthanizing piglets/poultry.
How does it work?
The animal is placed in a box, which will then be filled with special foam consisting of > 99% pure nitrogen. This gas is odorless and not aversive. The animal is rendered unconscious very quickly. By leaving the animal enough time in an environment without oxygen, death occurs after only a few minutes. Currently, many piglets are euthanized by giving them a hard blow to the head, so that they go unconscious and die. This is allowed by law, but the creators of Anoxia feel that this is a less respectful method for both animals and humans and leaves a lot of room for error.
We were impressed by what we heard and saw and hope that more farmers will make this investment in an Anoxia device.
In any event, we will certainly emphasize to livestock farmers the usefulness and importance of a more humane way to kill their weak animals.
We would like to thank the management of Anoxia for the ample time they have taken to meet with us and to exchange ideas.
Note:
For readers who want to learn more about Anoxia, please visit their website (www.anoxia.eu).
