Pre-slaughter stunning is required to render animals unconscious before killing in most countries, but welfare gaps in stunning effectiveness affect millions of animals annually.
Pre-slaughter stunning, when applied correctly, prevents consciousness at the moment of death — a welfare protection that matters enormously for the billions of animals slaughtered annually. But effective stunning requires correctly calibrated equipment, trained operators, regular maintenance and audit oversight. Failures in any of these areas result in animals entering the slaughter process while conscious. Expanding CCTV requirements, strengthening stunning effectiveness monitoring, improving operator training and addressing the welfare gap in religious exemption slaughter are all tractable interventions that would reduce the scale of suffering at slaughter globally.