How welfare at pig slaughter is assessed and what evidence-based improvements look like for one of the most widely farmed animals globally.
Pig slaughter welfare is a high-stakes area where the gap between current practice and the welfare ideal is significant and documented. The most widely used commercial stunning method — carbon dioxide — causes a period of several seconds to a minute of visible distress including gasping, sneezing, and frantic movement before unconsciousness. This has been known for decades and yet remains standard industry practice because of its operational advantages. More humane gas mixtures and alternative electrical systems exist but are not universally adopted. Every improvement in stunning effectiveness and reliability reduces suffering for hundreds of millions of individual animals annually.