Mass depopulation of poultry flocks for disease control requires welfare-conscious methods that minimise suffering during large-scale killing operations.
Mass poultry depopulation for disease control involves killing enormous numbers of birds in circumstances that prioritise speed due to disease control imperatives. The welfare of individual birds during these operations is constrained by the scale and urgency of disease response. Welfare-focused emergency protocols identify methods that achieve rapid unconsciousness and death with minimum aversive experience. The most welfare-compromising methods including ventilation shutdown plus heat have been criticised by welfare scientists and should be prohibited where more humane alternatives are feasible. Advance planning and resource prepositioning reduces reliance on least-welfare methods during disease emergencies.