Ventillation shutdown! How can this be permitted?!Ventillation shutdown! How can this be permitted?!Below is an extract from BBC news website that I thought you might be interested in. How anyone can believe that slow suffocation is in any way, under any circumstances, acceptable is beyond me!!
Bird cull ruling disappointment The updated rules are designed to be used as a last resort The RSPCA has voiced its disappointment after the High Court upheld the legality of new rules allowing chickens to be killed by slow suffocation. An amendment to regulations allows the air supply to infected poultry houses to be cut off in a bird flu outbreak. Lord Justice Auld rejected a claim from the animal charity that ventilation shutdown was "disproportionate". After the ruling, the RSPCA said it still opposed the method which caused "substantial suffering and distress". Last resort Ventilation shutdown was allowed under an amendment in April 2006 to the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter and Killing) regulations 1995 in "exceptional circumstances". The RSPCA argued the new rules were incompatible with a 1993 European directive designed to protect animals from excessive suffering "at the time of slaughter or killing". Lord Justice Auld, sitting at the High Court in London, said the directive was aimed at sparing animals "avoidable excitement, pain and suffering". The government has removed the urgency to plan and prepare resources to use humane methods However, it could not "guarantee absence of all such discomfort" if the slaughter was being carried out as a last resort. The judge said: "The practical difficulties of providing an all-purpose method - or variety of methods - of ventilation shutdown, so as to provide a guarantee of no distress, pain or suffering when meeting an emergency in all circumstances and countrywide are so obvious as to demonstrate the unreality and imbalance of the RSPCA's case." Global guidelines Reacting to the decision, RSPCA head of external affairs David Bowles said: "The RSPCA is disappointed with the outcome of the review, and continues to strongly oppose the use of ventilation shutdown, on the basis that it would cause substantial suffering and distress to birds. "By listing ventilation shutdown as a lawful method of killing, the government has removed the urgency to plan and prepare resources to use humane methods." At the time the rules were changed, animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming said ventilation shutdown was not among the disease control methods recognised by World Animal Health Organisation guidelines. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the technique would be used only if no other method was possible. Source http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7656754.stm 3 Chinese Cresteds, 1 Chorkie, 4 cats, 2 ex-batts, 1 Columbian Blacktail, 2 Silver Seabright, 1 Lavendar Pekin, 1 Cuckoo Pekin, 1 Millifleur-ish Pekin, 1 buff frizzle Pekin, 5 Italian quail.
I am disgusted that this is going to be allowed. i do not think it is acceptable at all. No living thing should be slowly starved of oxygen. I believe if an outbreak of avian flu was to occur in an intensively reared chicken shed then the most humane way to cull would be fast acting gas...just my opinion.
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You'd think that it wouldnt be too difficult to kill them quickly by gassing rather than just letting them die of lack of oxygen and probably a build up of methane / ammonia..
But as far as chickens being the only inhumanely treated 'food' animal, there is an awful lot going on with other species that we choose not to question or even look into. "Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid"
Albert Einstein
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