Pre-slaughter stunning in poultry is a critical welfare intervention, but stunning method effectiveness varies significantly with important implications for the billions of birds slaughtered annually.
Poultry stunning welfare affects more individual animals than perhaps any other single welfare intervention due to the extraordinary scale of global poultry slaughter. The gap between best-practice stunning (properly calibrated CAS or well-managed electrical stunning) and poor-practice stunning is substantial. Inadequately stunned birds regain consciousness before or during slaughter — experiencing pain, terror, and distress in their final moments. Consumer and regulatory pressure for better stunning standards, combined with welfare science that clearly identifies more humane methods, has driven meaningful improvements in some markets. The remaining gap between current practice and best practice represents an urgent welfare priority.