Humane-Slaughter-Guidelines

Figure 19—Arrow indicates the direction that the stunning device
should be pointed and the entry point at the top of the animal’s
head.
ner for the birds. 115 The CFIA Manual of Procedures 111
pertaining to ratites recommends a captive bolt device
with a short bolt and the smallest charge appropriate
for poultry or rabbits applied to the top of the head at
the midpoint of an imaginary line between the outer
openings (Figure 19).
The Ostrich Business Chamber also finds captive
bolt stunning to be acceptable. 106 However, Chapter 7
of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations Guidelines for Humane Handling, Transport
and Slaughter of Livestock states that a captive bolt gun
is not suitable for stunning ostriches, as “[t]heir brain
is small and lobulated, and the bolt does not produce
proper concussion.” 112
Birds should be bled immediately after stunning
(within 60 seconds 105 ) with a complete ventral neck cut
that severs both carotid arteries and both jugular veins
or thoracic sticking. The CFIA recommends that the
birds are bled out via a complete ventral cut of the neck
(both carotid arteries) or a thoracic stick within 15 seconds
of stunning so that consciousness is not regained.
Anecdotally there is better and faster bleed out when
both the neck cut and thoracic stick are performed.
U6 Handling and Slaughter of Alligators
In the United States, alligators are not covered by
the HMSA and are classified as seafood for federal meat
inspection purposes. 116 A small fraction of alligators are
harvested from the wild, but the vast majority of alligators
entering the hide and meat markets are raised
on alligator farms, primarily in the Southern and Gulf
Coast states. Historically, alligators have been farmed
primarily for their valuable hides, although in recent
years the value of alligator meat has increased substantially.
117,118 Most farmed alligators are slaughtered on
farm prior to either processing on-site or shipment to
processing facilities. This minimizes damage to hides
that might occur during mass shipment of live animals.
Reptiles represent a taxa with a diverse range of
anatomic and physiologic characteristics such that it
is often difficult to ascertain that a reptile such as an
alligator is, in fact, dead. Although reptiles respond
to noxious stimuli and are presumed to feel pain, our
understanding of their nociception and response to
stimuli is incomplete. Nevertheless, there is increasing
taxa-specific evidence 76 of the efficacy of analgesics to
minimize the impact of noxious stimuli on these species.
Consequently, slaughter techniques that result in
rapid loss of consciousness and minimize pain and distress
76 should be strived for, even where it is difficult to
determine that these criteria have been met.
Handling of alligators prior to killing should follow
standard welfare guidelines and best practices for
alligator management to minimize stress to the alligators
and to minimize the risk of injury to alligators and
human personnel. 119 Personnel should have appropriate
training on the humane handling of alligators, and
every effort should be made to avoid stress or overheating
of the animals.
Alligators possess unique anatomic and physiologic
traits that can make the assurance of quick and
humane death difficult. Reptiles have relatively high
tolerance for hypoxia compared with mammals, making
techniques that deprive the brain of oxygen (eg,
exsanguination, decapitation) less effective at inducing
rapid death 120 ; some reptiles may remain conscious up
to an hour following decapitation. Studies of varying
physical methods of euthanasia of American alligators
indicated that penetrating captive bolt, nonpenetrating
captive bolt, and pithing reduced brain wave activity
to levels equivalent to or below those of anesthetized
alligators; these methods were considered to be appropriate
methods for euthanasia. d In contrast, severance
of the spinal cord alone resulted in brain wave activity
that did not significantly differ from awake animals;
for this reason, spinal cord severance alone (as occurs
during decapitation) was considered an inappropriate
euthanasia technique for American alligators. Percussive
stunning by a blow to the head with a hard implement
is unlikely to cause death because of the size and
thickness of the alligator skull in market-size animals
(> 3 ft in length). Cervical dislocation is not considered
an acceptable method in alligators owing to the resistance
of the reptilian brain to hypoxia and to the thickness
of neck muscles making vertebral dislocation very
difficult. 120
Proper placement of captive bolts or gunshots is
imperative to ensuring a rapid and humane death in
alligators. The brain of the alligator is relatively small
and is located immediately behind orbits and extends
caudally between the supratemporal fossae. To ensure
destruction of brain tissue, the captive bolt or gunshot
must be placed on the midline between the orbit
and the cranial aspect of the supratemporal fossae. Although
an approach from behind the skull plate aiming
forward through the occipital bone is sometimes used
in wild alligator harvests, this approach is likely to only
sever the spinal cord without destroying the brain and
is therefore not appropriate. Figure 20 illustrates the
appropriate sites for captive bolt or gunshot placement
and for spinal cord severance or decapitation.
For purposes of humane slaughter, the following
methods are considered acceptable provided that they
54 AVMA Guidelines for the Humane Slaughter of Animals: 2016 Edition