[Hidden camera at slaughterhouse appears to show ‘utterly inhumane’ use of CO2 to stun pigs before slaughter](https://youtu.be/eVebmHMZ4bQ)
New undercover footage showing British pigs being gassed prior to slaughter has led to renewed calls to investigate the use of CO2.
Campaigners say the pictures – the first of their kind to be obtained in a UK abattoir – show the “utterly inhumane” nature of using CO2 to stun pigs before being killed. But the pork industry says its use is recognised as the most welfare-friendly method available, and says alternatives are being sought.
The images published today were obtained, say campaigners, using hidden cameras at Pilgrim’s Pride abattoir in Ashton-under-Lyne in north-west England in February 2021. They show pigs in groups of five or six being mechanically herded into a cage and then lowered into a Butina gas chamber in a ferris wheel-like system.
The pigs appear to be in distress as the gas concentration increases, with one still kicking after more than three minutes.
“The pigs in the video react to the first inhalation of carbon dioxide with fear and obvious discomfort,” said Donald Broom, an animal welfare professor at the University of Cambridge. “They try to escape but cannot. The gasping can be seen in all pigs where the mouth is visible. Gasping indicates poor welfare. The period of poor welfare continues until the pig loses consciousness.”
Paul Roger, a vet and founder member of the Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law Veterinary Association, said some pigs appeared to start waking from the gas prior to slaughter. “If this is the way animals are treated in this plant, they’re not being handled humanely. It’s an unacceptable way to treat any animal, and that really concerns me.”
Animal activist Joey Carbstrong, who captured the footage for the film Pignorant, said that the continued use of CO2 arises from the favouring of corporate profit over the interests of the animals. “We urgently need to stop using animals as resources because this kind of horror show is the result.”
Pilgrim’s UK, formerly known as Tulip, is a division of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, which is owned by JBS, the Brazilian-owned meat producer. Its animal welfare policy states: “At Pilgrim’s UK it is essential that all pigs are treated humanely throughout their lives and that the pig’s welfare is always at the forefront of everything we do.” It confirms that all Pilgrim’s pigs are stunned using CO2.
A Pilgrim’s Pride spokesperson said: “There is nothing to identify that this is our site, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment on that basis. Furthermore, the Food Standards Agency is legally required to be present at all sites and would routinely review any footage taken from an abattoir to ensure animals are treated humanely, and we have had no issues raised in the timeframe you have provided.”
In 2003, a government advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, said that CO2 stunning/killing “is not acceptable and we wish to see it phased out in five years”. However, its use has instead increased to 88% of all pigs in 2022.
A new scientific opinion by the European Food Safety Authority published in June 2020 stated: “Exposure to CO2 at high concentrations is considered a serious welfare concern by the panel because it is highly aversive and causes pain, fear and respiratory distress.”
Defra recently funded research into low atmospheric pressure stunning (Laps) as a potential alternative. The results showed it does not offer a humane alternative, and a 2021 Defra report into the welfare of animals at slaughter stated: “There has been no willingness on the part of abattoirs to explore inert gas mixture stunning commercially because of extended dwell time and therefore reduced throughput.”
Lizzie Wilson, CEO of the National Pig Association (NPA), said: “While we acknowledge gas stunning isn’t perfect, it is the best, most humane and efficacious commercially available option, and often the most reliable slaughter method for ensuring consistency.
“In addition, CO2 gas stunning of pigs does provide some welfare benefits; there is reduced risk of potential human error, animals remain in groups, and modern gas systems enable improved handling of pigs through use of automatic gates, which reduces the need for staff intervention and stress.”
The NPA said it organised a summit last year along with the National Farmers’ Union and British Meat Processors Association to discuss alternative gas mixtures, but concluded that there was no other viable system available. Dr Alice Brough said: “Non-aversive gases like argon or helium do offer potential alternatives, but they’re more expensive, and there’s no financial incentive for the meat industry to change their systems.”
Veterinary manager Prof Jill Thompson said: “Every effort should be made to progress towards using less aversive gasses that do not generate such reactions. This would involve changes to infrastructure in slaughter plants and would be more costly, but I believe that society would support a slight increase in the cost of products if it enabled a more peaceful stunning process for pigs.”
Peter Stevenson, head of policy at Compassion in World Farming, said: “I call on the government to ban the use of high levels of CO2 from 2026, thereby forcing the industry to belatedly invest in developing a slaughter method that is genuinely humane.”
A government spokesperson said: “The government is committed to the highest standards of animal welfare, including when animals are slaughtered or killed. We recognise there are concerns over the use of high-concentration carbon-dioxide to stun pigs, and will continue to look for viable alternatives based on the latest evidence on this issue.”
Jesus. This is absolutely horrific. I always knew and believed that Vegans/Vegetarians were right, I was just never mentally strong enough to follow through with what I believed was right. Maybe now is the time to readdress that.
It’s likely to be the site at Ashton-Under-Lyne, Angela Rayner’s constituency. I know that there used to be a site called Tulip Foods there as I worked nearby in Stalybridge for 13 years.
It puzzles me too, always I wonder if people ever stop to think about boy chicks and that a cow has to be pregnant and have a baby to make milk, if humans are taking the milk what happens to the baby. Answers to questions that would horrify many.
Tried to post the footage here an hour or two ago and immediately got a message saying it has been removed by a moderator? So good luck with this post staying up OP. Anyway, here you go again, something for people who eat pigs to watch: https://youtu.be/eVebmHMZ4bQ
Make a change. Eat less meat. Eat no meat. Support humane treatment. Something. Anything.
When CO² pits were unveiled to the world they were initially advertised as being a safe, sterile and humane method of stunning, in which pigs are gently lowered into a hole in the ground, where the CO² send them peacefully and painlessly off to sleep before having their throats cuts.
This were all lies. Being submerged in CO² simulates a sensation of drowning. It’s like being waterboarded in thin air. It is not painless, and it drives incomparable terror into the victim as they desperately gasp for life.
This is what you’re paying to happen to these animals every time you want bacon or sausages: https://youtu.be/eVebmHMZ4bQ
I was vegan and vegetarian for years. Time to re-evaluate, I don’t want to participate in this. Thanks for the reminder.
I know the ultimate response would be to go meat free, however you’d think that in the year 2023 they would have a more humane way of subduing/slaughtering livestock.
Couldn’t carbon monoxide be used instead? It’s painless and they wouldn’t even know something was wrong and just become sleepy. Happens all the time accidentally with humans afterall, so we know it would be more humane than CO2!
This is far worse when you think of the sheer scale of this, millions (edit: billions!) of sensitive sentient creatures going through this every year all over the world just so we can have a bacon sandwich or a beef burger.
I truly believe at some point in the future animal farming will be seen in similar terms to the holocaust. If that sounds like an exaggeration then take the time to read about how animals are really kept and slaughtered, and watch some of the videos.
This was horrendous to watch. In many ways I wish I’d never seen it. The noises are what you’d expect to hear in hell.
Don’t worry, everyone apparently only buys meat from local farmers and never from supermarkets, nor do they ever eat at restaurants. They never contribute to animal suffering in their minds, otherwise it might force them to confront the fact that they do not care about animals as they claim to.
I wander why they don’t use nitrogen, probably more dangerous since you can’t tell your oxygen deprived with nitrogen for the workers,
Though you would think they could afford a high-tech facility?
Horrific – can’t even bring myself to watch it. If anyone else feels the same and aren’t already, please do consider reducing your meat consumption. Animals don’t deserve to die
Most people have experienced the sensation of suffocating even if just briefly, you may think the horrible sensation is due to a lack of oxygen, its not, it is due to a build up of CO2 in your lungs. CO2 is extremely poisonous and very tightly regulated, as soon as it builds up you breathe more rapidly to blow it off, it is the primary driver of respiratory rate (not oxygen). Why on earth it is used for euthanasia I have no idea. Other gases don’t induce a sensation of suffocating.
Don’t make me feel bad about eating bacon, thats not fair!
Jokes i haven’t eaten anything from an animal in over 10 years XD
Fundamentally, that is not a humane method of killing, it fits every definition of torture.
It absolutely should be banned.
As a vegan I keep getting told over and over again that actually no the pigs are FINE. And then it becomes well no actually uk standards are better. Then stuff like this comes out and it’s “oh well I get mine all organic from my uncles farm” so many uncles farms that lovingly kill pigs for their meat in the uk I tell you.
This isn’t abnormal. When the animals lives aren’t profitable but their death is do you think they’ll be treated well in any sense of the word?
Never been a better time! For animals, the environment, human health, antibiotic resistance and zoonotic disease prevention like Covid.
I did some experiments where I was paid to breath high CO2 air while completing simple tasks on a computer.
It is very stressful.
Free range, locally farmed, humane slaughter. It’s all bullshit just to make the consumer feel better. Like others in this thread, I would buy animal products all the time, but there came a point where I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. I’ve been vegan for 3 years now and my only regret is not making the change sooner.
I don’t understand why they would use CO2. The mammalian body is primed to respond to high CO2 but not, for example, a lack of Oxygen. So a lot of people kill themselves by exposing themselves to a high Helium environment, because it is completely painless and they drift off and that’s that. We only gasp and feel breathless when CO2 is present in high amounts. So pumping CO2 into these cages is nothing short of torture. Literal torture. Like the worst possible instance of being out of breath you can imagine. Why would anyone torture pigs to death? It defies reason.
This is the thing that gets me. They use carbon dioxide to gas the pigs. That triggers the anoxia panic reaction and creates suffering.
If they used inert nitrogen, the pigs don’t suffer that panic reaction, they just fall asleep and die quietly and painlessly.
And you know why they don’t use nitrogen gas? *Because carbon dioxide gas is just that bit cheaper!*
It’s not happening to dogs or cats though so it’s ok.
If anybody wants to safely test what this feels like, get a half-open bottle of a fizzy drink (ambient temperature works better), open it slowly, and when it’s open squeeze gently and breathe in.
I challenge anybody not to immediately recoil because that shit burns your nose. Now imagine that in your lungs too. It’s absolutely brutal. How this flew under people’s radars for so long I have no idea.
it’s not rocket science to assume that animals find the process of their death traumatic. if you euthanase an animal with CO2 it doesn’t just instantly drop dead, you are depriving it of oxygen, they will gasp for air until they pass out and die.
one assumes it is favoured as it is cheap and you would be able to kill multiple animals in one go. After all that’s why the nazis chose gas chambers in their program of mechanised genocide.
CO2 is the absolute worst way to kill anything. It’s inhumane.
You know when you hold your breath and your body is screaming to breathe, its exactly like that except it doesn’t stop.
That’s why Pigs and all mammals (including us) exhibit stress when we can’t exhale carbon dioxide. We are biologically wired to panic and feel that suffocation feeling.
The alternative is inert gasses like Helium or Nitrogen but the industry wont use them because it costs more. These gases will cause an animal to pass out and die.
I’d happily pay £7 quid for sausages where the pig was despatched with zero stress or pain.
Don’t make jokes about bacon when faced with harrowing slaughterhouse footage challenge [IMPOSSIBLE]
There is no such thing as ‘humane’ slaughter, people. Consider eating less meat, for the climate and the animals.
I’m impressed by this sub, I feel like a few years ago this thread would mostly be people condemning veganism and shrugging off this report. Now there are so many advocating for going plant based it’s really encouraging.
My wife has been vegan for many years, and similar to others here I am vegetarian but probably only 5% of my diet is dairy. I will cut it out for good soon and go full vegan, but admittedly it’s a selfish desire to eat those products and I just need to get over myself and do it.
But vegans are the crazy ones for trying to stop this.
If I wanted to go veg/vegan where would I start? I think I might be ready to make the change but the thought of were to begin is scary. Not as scary as this shit though
We can do better. It’s just pork to you, it’s a suffering creature to me. Let’s do better together
These are animals that are far more intelligent than your dog or cat.
You wouldn’t allow your pet to suffer like this. And all for meat that gives you cancer too.
34 comments
[Hidden camera at slaughterhouse appears to show ‘utterly inhumane’ use of CO2 to stun pigs before slaughter](https://youtu.be/eVebmHMZ4bQ)
New undercover footage showing British pigs being gassed prior to slaughter has led to renewed calls to investigate the use of CO2.
Campaigners say the pictures – the first of their kind to be obtained in a UK abattoir – show the “utterly inhumane” nature of using CO2 to stun pigs before being killed. But the pork industry says its use is recognised as the most welfare-friendly method available, and says alternatives are being sought.
The images published today were obtained, say campaigners, using hidden cameras at Pilgrim’s Pride abattoir in Ashton-under-Lyne in north-west England in February 2021. They show pigs in groups of five or six being mechanically herded into a cage and then lowered into a Butina gas chamber in a ferris wheel-like system.
The pigs appear to be in distress as the gas concentration increases, with one still kicking after more than three minutes.
“The pigs in the video react to the first inhalation of carbon dioxide with fear and obvious discomfort,” said Donald Broom, an animal welfare professor at the University of Cambridge. “They try to escape but cannot. The gasping can be seen in all pigs where the mouth is visible. Gasping indicates poor welfare. The period of poor welfare continues until the pig loses consciousness.”
Paul Roger, a vet and founder member of the Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law Veterinary Association, said some pigs appeared to start waking from the gas prior to slaughter. “If this is the way animals are treated in this plant, they’re not being handled humanely. It’s an unacceptable way to treat any animal, and that really concerns me.”
Animal activist Joey Carbstrong, who captured the footage for the film Pignorant, said that the continued use of CO2 arises from the favouring of corporate profit over the interests of the animals. “We urgently need to stop using animals as resources because this kind of horror show is the result.”
Pilgrim’s UK, formerly known as Tulip, is a division of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, which is owned by JBS, the Brazilian-owned meat producer. Its animal welfare policy states: “At Pilgrim’s UK it is essential that all pigs are treated humanely throughout their lives and that the pig’s welfare is always at the forefront of everything we do.” It confirms that all Pilgrim’s pigs are stunned using CO2.
A Pilgrim’s Pride spokesperson said: “There is nothing to identify that this is our site, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment on that basis. Furthermore, the Food Standards Agency is legally required to be present at all sites and would routinely review any footage taken from an abattoir to ensure animals are treated humanely, and we have had no issues raised in the timeframe you have provided.”
In 2003, a government advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, said that CO2 stunning/killing “is not acceptable and we wish to see it phased out in five years”. However, its use has instead increased to 88% of all pigs in 2022.
A new scientific opinion by the European Food Safety Authority published in June 2020 stated: “Exposure to CO2 at high concentrations is considered a serious welfare concern by the panel because it is highly aversive and causes pain, fear and respiratory distress.”
Defra recently funded research into low atmospheric pressure stunning (Laps) as a potential alternative. The results showed it does not offer a humane alternative, and a 2021 Defra report into the welfare of animals at slaughter stated: “There has been no willingness on the part of abattoirs to explore inert gas mixture stunning commercially because of extended dwell time and therefore reduced throughput.”
Lizzie Wilson, CEO of the National Pig Association (NPA), said: “While we acknowledge gas stunning isn’t perfect, it is the best, most humane and efficacious commercially available option, and often the most reliable slaughter method for ensuring consistency.
“In addition, CO2 gas stunning of pigs does provide some welfare benefits; there is reduced risk of potential human error, animals remain in groups, and modern gas systems enable improved handling of pigs through use of automatic gates, which reduces the need for staff intervention and stress.”
The NPA said it organised a summit last year along with the National Farmers’ Union and British Meat Processors Association to discuss alternative gas mixtures, but concluded that there was no other viable system available. Dr Alice Brough said: “Non-aversive gases like argon or helium do offer potential alternatives, but they’re more expensive, and there’s no financial incentive for the meat industry to change their systems.”
Veterinary manager Prof Jill Thompson said: “Every effort should be made to progress towards using less aversive gasses that do not generate such reactions. This would involve changes to infrastructure in slaughter plants and would be more costly, but I believe that society would support a slight increase in the cost of products if it enabled a more peaceful stunning process for pigs.”
Peter Stevenson, head of policy at Compassion in World Farming, said: “I call on the government to ban the use of high levels of CO2 from 2026, thereby forcing the industry to belatedly invest in developing a slaughter method that is genuinely humane.”
A government spokesperson said: “The government is committed to the highest standards of animal welfare, including when animals are slaughtered or killed. We recognise there are concerns over the use of high-concentration carbon-dioxide to stun pigs, and will continue to look for viable alternatives based on the latest evidence on this issue.”
Jesus. This is absolutely horrific. I always knew and believed that Vegans/Vegetarians were right, I was just never mentally strong enough to follow through with what I believed was right. Maybe now is the time to readdress that.
It’s likely to be the site at Ashton-Under-Lyne, Angela Rayner’s constituency. I know that there used to be a site called Tulip Foods there as I worked nearby in Stalybridge for 13 years.
It puzzles me too, always I wonder if people ever stop to think about boy chicks and that a cow has to be pregnant and have a baby to make milk, if humans are taking the milk what happens to the baby. Answers to questions that would horrify many.
Tried to post the footage here an hour or two ago and immediately got a message saying it has been removed by a moderator? So good luck with this post staying up OP. Anyway, here you go again, something for people who eat pigs to watch: https://youtu.be/eVebmHMZ4bQ
Make a change. Eat less meat. Eat no meat. Support humane treatment. Something. Anything.
When CO² pits were unveiled to the world they were initially advertised as being a safe, sterile and humane method of stunning, in which pigs are gently lowered into a hole in the ground, where the CO² send them peacefully and painlessly off to sleep before having their throats cuts.
This were all lies. Being submerged in CO² simulates a sensation of drowning. It’s like being waterboarded in thin air. It is not painless, and it drives incomparable terror into the victim as they desperately gasp for life.
This is what you’re paying to happen to these animals every time you want bacon or sausages: https://youtu.be/eVebmHMZ4bQ
I was vegan and vegetarian for years. Time to re-evaluate, I don’t want to participate in this. Thanks for the reminder.
I know the ultimate response would be to go meat free, however you’d think that in the year 2023 they would have a more humane way of subduing/slaughtering livestock.
Couldn’t carbon monoxide be used instead? It’s painless and they wouldn’t even know something was wrong and just become sleepy. Happens all the time accidentally with humans afterall, so we know it would be more humane than CO2!
This is far worse when you think of the sheer scale of this, millions (edit: billions!) of sensitive sentient creatures going through this every year all over the world just so we can have a bacon sandwich or a beef burger.
I truly believe at some point in the future animal farming will be seen in similar terms to the holocaust. If that sounds like an exaggeration then take the time to read about how animals are really kept and slaughtered, and watch some of the videos.
This was horrendous to watch. In many ways I wish I’d never seen it. The noises are what you’d expect to hear in hell.
Don’t worry, everyone apparently only buys meat from local farmers and never from supermarkets, nor do they ever eat at restaurants. They never contribute to animal suffering in their minds, otherwise it might force them to confront the fact that they do not care about animals as they claim to.
I wander why they don’t use nitrogen, probably more dangerous since you can’t tell your oxygen deprived with nitrogen for the workers,
Though you would think they could afford a high-tech facility?
Horrific – can’t even bring myself to watch it. If anyone else feels the same and aren’t already, please do consider reducing your meat consumption. Animals don’t deserve to die
Most people have experienced the sensation of suffocating even if just briefly, you may think the horrible sensation is due to a lack of oxygen, its not, it is due to a build up of CO2 in your lungs. CO2 is extremely poisonous and very tightly regulated, as soon as it builds up you breathe more rapidly to blow it off, it is the primary driver of respiratory rate (not oxygen). Why on earth it is used for euthanasia I have no idea. Other gases don’t induce a sensation of suffocating.
Don’t make me feel bad about eating bacon, thats not fair!
Jokes i haven’t eaten anything from an animal in over 10 years XD
Fundamentally, that is not a humane method of killing, it fits every definition of torture.
It absolutely should be banned.
As a vegan I keep getting told over and over again that actually no the pigs are FINE. And then it becomes well no actually uk standards are better. Then stuff like this comes out and it’s “oh well I get mine all organic from my uncles farm” so many uncles farms that lovingly kill pigs for their meat in the uk I tell you.
This isn’t abnormal. When the animals lives aren’t profitable but their death is do you think they’ll be treated well in any sense of the word?
Sign up for No Meat May here: https://www.nomeatmay.org/
Never been a better time! For animals, the environment, human health, antibiotic resistance and zoonotic disease prevention like Covid.
I did some experiments where I was paid to breath high CO2 air while completing simple tasks on a computer.
It is very stressful.
Free range, locally farmed, humane slaughter. It’s all bullshit just to make the consumer feel better. Like others in this thread, I would buy animal products all the time, but there came a point where I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. I’ve been vegan for 3 years now and my only regret is not making the change sooner.
I don’t understand why they would use CO2. The mammalian body is primed to respond to high CO2 but not, for example, a lack of Oxygen. So a lot of people kill themselves by exposing themselves to a high Helium environment, because it is completely painless and they drift off and that’s that. We only gasp and feel breathless when CO2 is present in high amounts. So pumping CO2 into these cages is nothing short of torture. Literal torture. Like the worst possible instance of being out of breath you can imagine. Why would anyone torture pigs to death? It defies reason.
This is the thing that gets me. They use carbon dioxide to gas the pigs. That triggers the anoxia panic reaction and creates suffering.
If they used inert nitrogen, the pigs don’t suffer that panic reaction, they just fall asleep and die quietly and painlessly.
And you know why they don’t use nitrogen gas? *Because carbon dioxide gas is just that bit cheaper!*
It’s not happening to dogs or cats though so it’s ok.
If anybody wants to safely test what this feels like, get a half-open bottle of a fizzy drink (ambient temperature works better), open it slowly, and when it’s open squeeze gently and breathe in.
I challenge anybody not to immediately recoil because that shit burns your nose. Now imagine that in your lungs too. It’s absolutely brutal. How this flew under people’s radars for so long I have no idea.
it’s not rocket science to assume that animals find the process of their death traumatic. if you euthanase an animal with CO2 it doesn’t just instantly drop dead, you are depriving it of oxygen, they will gasp for air until they pass out and die.
one assumes it is favoured as it is cheap and you would be able to kill multiple animals in one go. After all that’s why the nazis chose gas chambers in their program of mechanised genocide.
CO2 is the absolute worst way to kill anything. It’s inhumane.
You know when you hold your breath and your body is screaming to breathe, its exactly like that except it doesn’t stop.
That’s why Pigs and all mammals (including us) exhibit stress when we can’t exhale carbon dioxide. We are biologically wired to panic and feel that suffocation feeling.
The alternative is inert gasses like Helium or Nitrogen but the industry wont use them because it costs more. These gases will cause an animal to pass out and die.
I’d happily pay £7 quid for sausages where the pig was despatched with zero stress or pain.
Don’t make jokes about bacon when faced with harrowing slaughterhouse footage challenge [IMPOSSIBLE]
There is no such thing as ‘humane’ slaughter, people. Consider eating less meat, for the climate and the animals.
I’m impressed by this sub, I feel like a few years ago this thread would mostly be people condemning veganism and shrugging off this report. Now there are so many advocating for going plant based it’s really encouraging.
My wife has been vegan for many years, and similar to others here I am vegetarian but probably only 5% of my diet is dairy. I will cut it out for good soon and go full vegan, but admittedly it’s a selfish desire to eat those products and I just need to get over myself and do it.
But vegans are the crazy ones for trying to stop this.
If I wanted to go veg/vegan where would I start? I think I might be ready to make the change but the thought of were to begin is scary. Not as scary as this shit though
We can do better. It’s just pork to you, it’s a suffering creature to me. Let’s do better together
These are animals that are far more intelligent than your dog or cat.
You wouldn’t allow your pet to suffer like this. And all for meat that gives you cancer too.