Are slaughterhouses humane?

The first public slaughterhouse appeared in France at the beginning of the nineteenth century. However, we have been killing and eating animals for over 2.6 million years. Advancements in the American railroad system between the 1870s and the 1930s aided the meat industry's lightning growth.

Our nation eats a lot of pork, chicken, beef, and dairy products. We have over 2,785 slaughterhouses throughout America. Throughout the past few years, many people have questioned how humane the ways people butcher our animals are. Slaughterhouses have been changing their practices to make sure the animals don’t suffer. 

Slaughterhouses do many different methods to butcher animals. One of the many ways they butcher pigs is by using CO2 gas on them.  Carbon dioxide gas is used to induce unconsciousness. As the animal inhales the carbon dioxide gas, its blood oxygen level decreases resulting in a loss of brain function. People can tell when animals haven’t been knocked out since they might move around and/or blink. However, you don’t want to confuse this with postmortem spasms. Sometimes after animals are butchered their muscles can still move due to the memory that muscle has. Slaughterhouses also know the method they use is humane because the federal government does humane audits to make sure animals are treated the best way possible. In the audits, the people teach the butchers how to properly butcher animals and how to handle them. 

One of the biggest myths about slaughterhouses is that the animals cry before they are butchered. When people say animals cry they mean the animal is making loud, high-pitched wailing sounds. However, they only make those sounds when they are scared or grieving. Due to those facts, animals are perfectly fine before being slaughtered if handled humanely.

I believe that slaughterhouses try to butcher animals as humanely as possible and only want the best for their livestock. We nourish our animals when they are alive and after their life, they provide nourishment for us. I raise pigs and every year we bring the barrows to the locker. We always ask how they put the animals to sleep to ensure they are taken care of humanely. I have gone to many lockers around the area and my favorite is Kitt’s locker in Dedham, Iowa.

 

Do you think slaughterhouses are humane? And why?

Do you think there are better ways to butcher animals? 

Have you ever taken an animal to a slaughterhouse?

Sources:

https://www.livekindly.com/how-big-meat-took-over-food-industry/#:~:text=Humans%20have%20been%20eating%20meat,the%20meat%20industry%27s%20rapid%20growth

 

https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/evidence-for-meat-eating-by-early-humans-103874273/#:~:text=The%20first%20major%20evolutionary%20change,least%202.6%20million%20years%20ago

 

https://modernfarmer.com/2013/04/this-is-what-humane-slaughter-looks-like-is-it-good-enough/ 

 

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/slaughter-inspection-101 

 

http://www.voogdconsulting.com/animalwelfare.html 

 

https://petkeen.com/do-cows-cry-tears/ 




 

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Replies

    • I agree that slaughterhouses are humane. Most livestock is used in the show industry which teaches kids hard work and many other life skills. 

  • I don't think that there is an humane way of killing animals. Killing is still killing. Furthermore, the massive meat consume is one reason for most diseases and global warming. In my view, slaughterhouses are just not right and the way the animals are treated there for our benefit is reprehensible.

    • I agree that slaughterhouses do produce some harm to the environment; however, slaughterhouses still treat animals right. There have been some cases where the government had to step in otherwise the meat industry is doing more and more to make sure their animals are treated right. 

  • I think that slaughterhouses are humane. Though many people say that slaughterhouses are not treating animals fairly, I see them as one of the biggest producers of the world's food supply. Without these slaughterhouses the world would be at an even bigger lack of food, and the people fighting for no slaughter houses would see this and would see the impact no food would be. 

    • Yeah, I totally agree with you that if we stopped butchering animals in slaughterhouses we would have even less food to feed humans.

  • I think that slaughter houses are a good way to get meat from animals. There are lots of people to feed so we need to get meat efficiently and I think slaughter houses are very effiecient. I also think that there are many worse ways animals could be butchered. 

    • I agree with you that lots of people eat meat. A survey showed that nearly 9 out of 10 Americans consume meat in their diet.

  • I think that slaughter houses are good ways to get the meat from animals, and I don't think that anyone can do anything to stop them. I think that these places are very time efficient, and overall more effective because they probably get more out of the animals than a regular person would.

    • I agree with you, that slaughterhouses are very time efficient. They butcher over 25 million animals each day to feed everyone around the world.

  • I think that Sluaghter houses is the best idea to get meat from animals. There could be a more disturbing way and could be way worse then what it is now.

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