THE WELFARE AT SLAUGHTER OF BROILER CHICKENS A COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING TRUST REPORT BY

There is growing public concern about the well-being of animals in modern intensive husbandry systems. Much of this concern is well-founded, especially regarding the poultry industry where throughout the world many millions of broilers are transformed into poultry meat every day. Most people who worry about the way broilers are housed and raised are too squeamish to give any thought to the slaughter process. This report by the Compassion in World Farming Trust highlights the fact that procedures in far too many poultry slaughterhouses do not ensure that the birds are adequately stunned, leaving an unknown number alive, and some still conscious, when they enter the scalding tank. This is not a new problem, nor is it one incapable of resolution. The report summarises the latest scientific views on the current density and the arrangement of the stunners required to ensure that all birds are either dead or stunned before being bled out by severing both carotid arteries. Six years ago a seminar on pre-slaughter stunning was held in Brussels under the auspices of the Economic and Social Committee of the European Communities and in close liaison with the European Commission. The seminar was attended by a number of veterinarians, ethologists, physiologists and other scientists along with members of organisation