The Use of a Non-Penetrating Captive Bolt for the Euthanasia of Neonate Piglets.

Andrew Grist,Charles Mason,Jeff Lines,Stephen Wotton,Toby Knowles

doi:10.3390/ani8040048

Abstract

Simple SummaryThe humane destruction of newborn piglets (neonates), when required, is an issue faced by farmers and producers. The application of blunt force trauma, either through swinging the animal against a wall, or hitting it with a weighted object, is a stressful procedure for the stock person and has implications for the animal in terms of welfare, instantaneous effect and reproducibility. The United Kingdom government funded this project to find a single application method that could be used on farms that would produce an immediate kill with these animals. This project demonstrates that the use of a mechanical captive bolt device, that does not enter the head, delivers sufficient energy when applied to the head of a piglet to immediately destroy the brain leading to the death of the animal. This method will improve animal welfare on farms, as well as providing producers with a device that they can be confident will kill the animal without pain, as the brain is destroyed before the animal can perceive a pain nerve impulse.The most common method for the on-farm euthanasia of neonate piglets is reported to be manual blunt force trauma. This paper presents the results of research to evaluate a mechanical non-penetrating captive bolt (the Accles and Shelvoke CASH small animal tool, Birmingham, UK) to produce an immediate stun/kill with neonate piglets. One hundred and forty-seven piglets (average dead weight = 1.20 kg ± 0.58 (standard deviation, SD), mean age = 5.8 days (median = 3)) were euthanized with the device and demonstrated immediate loss of consciousness, subjectively assessed by behavioural signs and no recovery. The result that 147 out of 147 animals were effectively stun/killed gives a 95% confidence interval for the true percentage of animals that would be effectively stun/killed of 97.5–100% with the use of the CASH small animal tool under the conditions of the current study. This research concludes that the CASH small animal tool, using a 1 grain brown coded cartridge, is suitable for producing a stun/kill in neonate piglets when applied in a frontal/parietal position.

Highlights

Stockmen will be faced with the problem of having to dispatch, or euthanase, young piglets for various reasons including illnesses that are beyond treatment, birth deformations or production efficiencies
The application of the CASH small animal tool resulted in an effective stun with every piglet and, in addition, every piglet was effectively killed by the procedure
A further 147 piglets were successfully stun/killed with the brown 1-grain cartridge, which resulted in reduced laceration to the skin over the impact area and less bleeding from the nostrils

Summary

Introduction

Stockmen will be faced with the problem of having to dispatch, or euthanase, young piglets for various reasons including illnesses that are beyond treatment, birth deformations or production efficiencies. Euthanasia or slaughter of surplus young animals on-farm is usually carried out by administering a blow to the head, which is generally performed with a percussive blow or by swinging the young animal against the floor or a wall. Widely used as a means of casualty slaughter, the effectiveness of this method is heavily dependent on the strength and skill of the operator and, the probability of consistently achieving an immediate kill is low. Lack of proper training and human error can lead to pain and distress to the animal. It is a method of killing that is aesthetically unpleasant for both the operator and any bystanders [1,2,3]. As the terms ‘dispatch’, ‘euthanasia’, ‘casualty or surplus slaughter’ and ‘culling’ are all commonly used to describe the termination of life, we will use the term euthanasia in this paper to encompass them all

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion