Kaiser Marianne, Kristensen Jens Kristian, Thomsen Peter T
Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Aarhus University, Tjele 8830, Denmark.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aarhus University, Aarhus N 8200, Denmark.
Transl Anim Sci. 2025 Mar 11;9:txaf034. doi: 10.1093/tas/txaf034. eCollection 2025.
Situations may arise where authorities need to depopulate large quantities of pigs in a short time. This must be done in an animal welfare-responsible manner. This paper describes in detail a technical mobile container system for CO depopulation of pigs. The system consists of simple and easily accessible materials and can be replicated and scaled for multiple container systems for CO depopulation. The container system was tested at 4 depopulation events where the pigs' behavior was filmed (1 event) and the duration of the various procedures was recorded. The results showed that the system's capacity met AVMA's recommendations for a CO supply rate of 10% to 30% of the chamber volume per min. On average, the containers were supplied with CO for 7 min, and it was possible to maintain a CO concentration of 80% for at least 10 min after stopping the CO admission. By maintaining the tarpaulin on the container during transport, this "extending effect period" can be utilized for additional CO exposure and acts as an extra safeguard for successful depopulation. Target CO concentration of 80% occurred after a mean of 7 min. Pig escape attempts were first observed 2 min:26 s after the start of CO exposure. Presumably due to the stocking density (a mean of 0.52 m per pig), no loss of posture (indicating loss of consciousness) could be observed. On the other hand, the last escape attempts were observed after 3 min:04 s, and the last atactic movements after 3 min:13 s. It is therefore reasonable to assume that all pigs have lost consciousness around that time. No pigs survived the procedure, and the described CO depopulation system therefore lived up to expectations. We recommend that users are given the opportunity to practice thoroughly before an authentic emergency.
可能会出现当局需要在短时间内大量屠宰生猪的情况。这必须以对动物福利负责的方式进行。本文详细描述了一种用于生猪一氧化碳屠宰的技术移动容器系统。该系统由简单且易于获取的材料组成，可复制并扩展为多个用于一氧化碳屠宰的容器系统。该容器系统在4次屠宰事件中进行了测试，期间拍摄了猪的行为（1次事件）并记录了各个程序的持续时间。结果表明，该系统的容量符合美国兽医协会（AVMA）关于每分钟一氧化碳供应量为腔室容积的10%至30%的建议。平均而言，向容器供应一氧化碳7分钟，停止供应一氧化碳后至少10分钟内可将一氧化碳浓度维持在80%。在运输过程中通过保持容器上的防水油布，这种“延长作用期”可用于额外的一氧化碳暴露，并作为成功屠宰的额外保障。平均7分钟后达到目标一氧化碳浓度80%。一氧化碳暴露开始2分26秒后首次观察到猪试图逃脱。据推测，由于饲养密度（平均每头猪0.52平方米），未观察到姿势丧失（表明失去意识）。另一方面，3分04秒后观察到最后一次逃脱尝试，3分13秒后观察到最后一次共济失调运动。因此可以合理假设，大约在那个时候所有猪都失去了意识。没有猪在该程序中存活，因此所描述的一氧化碳屠宰系统达到了预期。我们建议在真正的紧急情况发生前，给予用户充分的实践机会。
