The catching and transport of turkeys to slaughter causes significant pain and injury, making end-of-life welfare one of the most critical and improvable phases of turkey production.
The final hours of a turkey life involve a sequence of welfare challenges: the terror of being caught by workers in a darkened shed, the pain of being carried by the legs, the stress of loading into transport crates, the journey to the slaughterhouse, and the slaughter process itself. Each of these stages offers opportunities for welfare improvement. Catching machines that mechanically gather birds cause less injury than manual catching by some measures, though they introduce other risks. Controlled atmosphere systems that render birds unconscious before they are handled at slaughter eliminate fear at the point of death — a significant welfare advance over waterbath stunning. Improving end-of-life welfare for turkeys is achievable with existing technology.