Cruel, Mass Exterminations of Poultry by ‘Baking Them Alive’ Rising in CAFOs Across US; Activists Are Outraged
(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) — An animal welfare charity says it is a “moral tragedy” that millions of birds are being culled using a controversial method which causes “severe distress.” Campaigners say the contentious “ventilation” technique was designed for use in extreme circumstances but is instead being used on a routine basis to deal with bird flu cases.
Outbreaks of avian influenza, more commonly known as bird flu, have wreaked havoc across the northern hemisphere this year, with more than 38 million birds killed in the US alone, thus far.
When birds – most often poultry — test positive for the virus, it is common practice for the whole localized flock to be exterminated and the carcasses destroyed in attempts to prevent the disease from spreading to other hens, chickens, or turkeys in the area.
The poultry industry used to favor a culling method known as “foaming” which sees the infected specimen submerged in foam filled with pure nitrogen, causing the animal to lose consciousness in a few seconds. Because of the extreme oxygen deficiency (anoxia) the animal dies within 90 to 120 seconds, and at no time regains consciousness.
But farmers across the US are now more commonly opting for the Ventilation Shutdown + Heat (VSD+) method, leaving veterinarians and animal welfare activists up in arms and using increasingly innovative means to protest against it.
According to the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the VSD+ process involves “turning off the airflow in a barn and ratcheting the heat above 104 degrees, leaving trapped birds to die from heat stress over several hours.”
Around 3,500 veterinary professionals have voiced objections to the method, yet according to the charity’s analysis of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, at least 73 percent of the lethal events in February and March used VSD+.
Bird flu itself is agonizing for infected poultry. Chickens struggle to breathe and suffer from extreme diarrhea. Other poultry sometimes develop swelling around the eyes, neck and head while turkeys can experience tremors or their wings become paralyzed.
But campaigners say the VSD+ method of slaughter is unnecessarily cruel as a means of bringing the lives of sick birds — and those around them — to an end.
Dena Jones, AWI’s farm animal program director, released a statement on the charity’s website, saying:
The killing of millions of sentient creatures by essentially baking them alive is a moral tragedy of immense proportions. This process can take hours and likely results in severe animal distress. Intentionally inflicting death in such a manner is unacceptable.
THE NEW ‘DEFAULT?’
So, why are farmers opting for this method over more seemingly humane options? And is it legal?
In 2014-2015, the U.S. witnessed the worst animal disease outbreak in its history when avian flu resulted in the deaths of 50 million chickens and turkeys, costing taxpayers roughly $850 million and the U.S. economy more than $3 billion.
The USDA responded by approving VSD+ in situations where no other method would “accomplish flock depopulation within 48 hours.”
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) backs this up by listing “ventilation shutdown with supplemental heat” as “permitted in constrained circumstances” for “depopulation.”
But, according to animal welfare activists it is poor farm planning on behalf of industry and government which means more humane methods such as foaming or gassing using carbon dioxide do not allow farmers enough time to eradicate the necessary number of birds.
Jones explained that factory farms – also known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) — are ideal incubators for disease as they are “cramped, filthy warehouses for massive flocks or herds of animals bred to possess little genetic diversity.” She adds that “producers remain unwilling to effectively plan for emergencies,” meaning that “killing birds by inducing heatstroke — once considered an option of last resort — has become the default” because producers can’t destroy massive numbers of their animals fast enough to control the spread of disease.
A USDA spokesperson appeared to concede this point when speaking to the UK’s Guardian newspaper. The spokesman noted that “some farm housing designs do not allow for effective depopulation using foam” and that the carbon dioxide method is sometimes “hindered by supply shortages.”
The debate appears to be growing in size, ferocity and is unlikely to calm down anytime soon. In April, USA Today reported how an activist from the animal welfare group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) super-glued her hand to a basketball court during a game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Clippers. The group later explained the move was in protest of Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor’s egg farm which is reported to have culled millions of chickens using the VSD+ method.
Days later, a woman chained herself to the base of the basketball hoop during another Timberwolves game, this time versus the Memphis Grizzlies. In another game soon after, two more protesters dressed up as referees and blew the whistle to “eject” the billionaire owner Taylor.
On all three occasions the group took responsibility for the protest and called on the AVMA to reclassify the VSD+ method as “not recommended.” Taylor has not responded publicly to the protests.
It was this same protest group which EnviroNews reported on in May, 2020, when a DxE video surfaced showing thousands of pigs being “cooked alive” in a “mass extermination” connected to the early COVID-19 lockdowns. The video — made possible by slaughterhouse whistleblowers — was shot secretly at the Iowa Select Farms Grundy County facility. DxE claimed the pigs “shrieked in agony” as they were roasted alive. After two to three hours had elapsed, employees with bolt guns returned to kill any animals that had survived the process in a point-blank execution style.
The AVMA’s reluctance to change its policy on the issue “harms animals and the veterinary profession’s reputation as caring advocates for animals,” according to Crystal Heath, a vet and co-founder of the ethical veterinary group Our Honor.
However, as the organization points out in a statement, even if the AVMA were to reclassify the method as “not recommended,” producers could still use it. The only difference is that they could no longer “state to the media and the public that they were using ‘AVMA-approved methods’ or ‘veterinary-approved methods.’”
The EU and UK are far firmer in their stance. There, birds are culled with carbon dioxide gas or nitrogen-infused foam. In fact, The European Food Safety Authority says ventilation shutdown should not be used, but adds that there have been reports of producers in France being given emergency permission to use it.
While this latest bird flu chapter may have passed its peak, reports of local outbreaks continue to surface and, while they do, VSD+ will continue to make the headlines.
FILM AND ARTICLE CREDITS
- Dan Keel - Journalist, Author
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