Effectiveness of two methods for stunning pigs: electrical stunning head-heart and CO2 stunning

Authors

  • Juan David Acevedo-Giraldo Departamento de Salud Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Caldas
  • Marlyn Romero Departamento de Salud Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Caldas
  • Jorge A. Sánchez Departamento de Salud Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Caldas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15381/rivep.v27i4.12579

Keywords:

pig, animal welfare, effectiveness, electrical stunning, CO2 stunning

Abstract

The aims of this study were to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of the electrical stunning head-heart (MA1) and CO2 stunning (MA2), and to assess the infrastructure and management of pigs in two commercial slaughterhouses in Colombia. A crosssectional study that evaluated 520 pigs (MA1=185 and MA2=335) was performed. Behavioral indicators in the stunning box and consciousness indicators before and after bleeding were evaluated. Eye movements (39%) and spontaneous eye blinking (36.7%) were common in MA1, while rhythmic breathing (24.1%) was evident in MA2. The effectiveness of stunning was low in the two slaughterhouses before (48.7%, 50.5%) and after bleeding (79.5%, 37.3%). It is recommended to establish indicators to routinely assess the effectiveness of stunning, and a programme of preventive maintenance of equipment and continuous training of staff.

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Published

2017-01-17

Issue

Vol. 27 No. 4 (2016)

Section

Artículos Primarios

License

Copyright (c) 2017 Juan David Acevedo-Giraldo, Marlyn Romero, Jorge A. Sánchez

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

AUTHORS RETAIN THEIR RIGHTS:

a. Authors retain their trade mark rights and patent, and also on any process or procedure described in the article.

b. Authors retain their right to share, copy, distribute, perform and publicly communicate their article (eg, to place their article in an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in the Revista de Investigaciones Veterinarias del Perú (RIVEP).

c. Authors retain theirs right to make a subsequent publication of their work, to use the article or any part thereof (eg a compilation of his papers, lecture notes, thesis, or a book), always indicating the source of publication (the originator of the work, journal, volume, number and date).

How to Cite

Acevedo-Giraldo, J. D., Romero, M., & Sánchez, J. A. (2017). Effectiveness of two methods for stunning pigs: electrical stunning head-heart and CO2 stunning. Revista De Investigaciones Veterinarias Del Perú, 27(4), 668-679. https://doi.org/10.15381/rivep.v27i4.12579