Effective stunning before slaughter is essential for preventing suffering in poultry. Current systems vary in reliability, and welfare improvements remain achievable.
Effective stunning eliminates the suffering of slaughter for poultry — but current systems are imperfect. Water bath electrical stunning can fail when birds raise their heads, miss the water, or receive insufficient current. Birds that reach the neck cutter conscious experience a painful death. Controlled atmosphere stunning (CAS) systems, which expose birds to gas mixtures before handling, avoid many of these failure modes and are considered more welfare-positive. Monitoring stunning effectiveness and regular system calibration are critical welfare management requirements.