The slaughter of billions of poultry birds annually involves welfare concerns at every stage, from catching through to the killing process.
Poultry slaughter involves welfare challenges at massive scale. The catching and loading process that precedes transport typically involves workers manually catching birds in darkened houses, a process that causes significant fear responses and frequent wing and leg injuries. Inversion for hanging on the slaughter line while still conscious is painful and distressing. Electrical water bath stunning systems, used for the majority of poultry, have recognized limitations in achieving reliable unconsciousness in all birds. Controlled atmosphere stunning using gas, which causes unconsciousness before any handling, offers better welfare outcomes but requires significant capital investment. The scale of poultry slaughter - tens of billions of birds annually - means that even marginal welfare improvements applied across the industry affect enormous numbers of animals.