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West Central Iowa | After re-reading my post I realized I didn't address the method in which the pigs are euthanized. Your original post stated "There's no options to captive bolt, pull out a .22LR, electrocute, gas, etc? Blunt force trauma is the only option?"
Technically blunt force trauma is not the only option, but it does not require a producer/employee to purchase or carry any extra equipment. If done correctly the pig will die within seconds. Likely this is the safest and cheapest option as well. A captive bolt would be clumsy to use on such a small animal (some as small as 3-4 lbs.) I can't imagine trying to hold a pig and euthanize it with a .22. Who knows where the bullet would end up. And many large shower in/shower out facilities would not have the ability to keep going outside to complete the task. Electrocution is an option but another piece of equipment to purchase/maintain. And finally to gas one would require compressed products in a corrosive environment and the additional need for some type of box to put them in. From my experience with "gassing" birds at a laying facility when they were done with their productive lives, gassing sounds so humane but many suffocated in the container before they even got to the gas at the end of the building. Likely larger operations would not want to gas one at a time, so the pigs to be euthanized would be gathered up until there were enough to make it worth their time. That means you could have many pigs all piled together in which some will likely die before the gassing, which would likely be a more painful death than immediate blunt trauma.
I am no veterinarian, but that is my $0.02 worth on the topic of euthanizing methods. Some people may consider this topic to be gory, inappropriate to hold on a message board, or "ammo" for animal activists but the reality is if you eat any product that comes from an animal, like leather seats in a car, watch football, wear clothes, etc., this is a topic that animal producers need to understand/discuss. | |
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Pig/Piglet "Bouncing"
