On the Monday earlier than Thanksgiving, two fortunate Minnesota turkeys have been “pardoned” by President Joe Biden. The annual custom, filled with puns and antics, occurred this 12 months towards the backdrop of the deadliest wave of hen flu in U.S. historical past — with outbreaks throughout 9 Iowa counties this fall alone.
The poultry business would have you ever consider that there isn’t any connection between the greater than 60 million farmed birds who’ve died nationwide because of the extremely pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak that started in early 2022 and the hen in your vacation desk. After all, well being specialists preserve that this can be very unlikely for people to contract the virus by meals.
However, customers involved concerning the situations during which animals are raised ought to take notice: Poultry producers and state well being officers in Iowa (the nation’s main egg producer and among the many hardest-hit states in the course of the recent surge) have typically chosen probably the most inhumane methodology available to “depopulate” flocks uncovered to HPAI — air flow shutdown plus warmth (VSD+). It includes turning off the airflow in a barn and ratcheting up the temperature to induce heatstroke — primarily, baking trapped animals alive.
Poultry contaminated with HPAI sometimes undergo significantly earlier than they die, and ending their lives is usually in their very own greatest curiosity. Once the illness is detected, although, the whole flock is killed to manage illness unfold. Using VSD+ to take action takes hours; throughout this time, wholesome and contaminated birds alike expertise excessive struggling.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, from February 2022 to July 2023, 21 of the 25 business depopulation occasions in Iowa ensuing from HPAI used heatstroke to kill some or all the operations’ birds — almost 16 million turkeys and chickens.
Earlier this month, Iowa agriculture officers introduced the organized slaughter of 1.2 million hens on a Taylor County farm the place hen flu had been detected. Additionally, two smaller business turkey flocks in Buena Vista County have been hit in October. While it’s too early to know if VSD+ was utilized in these recent depopulations, final 12 months, farms in each counties used VSD+ alone or together with different strategies to kill greater than 6.4 million birds (together with 5.3 million at Rembrandt Farms).
Depopulation killings are sometimes described as “euthanasia,” a time period whose Greek roots imply “good death.” Death by VSD+ is something however. According to animal welfare specialists, it may be extended, with ache, concern, and labored respiration earlier than the animals ultimately lose consciousness. The World Organisation for Animal Health — the main worldwide authority on the well being and welfare of animals — doesn’t contemplate VSD+ a suitable methodology of killing animals. And greater than 3,500 veterinary professionals have urged the American Veterinary Medical Association to categorise killing by way of heatstroke as “not recommended” and promote extra humane depopulation strategies, similar to utilizing nitrogen gasoline.
As of June, the U.S. authorities had allotted almost $1.3 billion to compensate producers for animals killed throughout outbreaks and different HPAI response actions. Earlier this 12 months, my organization, the Animal Welfare Institute, petitioned the USDA to vary its animal illness rules to make eligibility for compensation contingent upon having an audited emergency response plan in place — one that features methods to humanely depopulate animals.
HPAI has develop into a year-round downside, reaching new corners of the globe. While hen flu is usually portrayed as originating in migrating birds, the conversion of low pathogenic avian influenza (with little or no indicators of illness) to lethal HPAI has occurred almost completely in business poultry manufacturing programs.
The Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza and Wild Birds, convened by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, not too long ago famous that “HPAI risks are high where production occurs in high-density settings,” becoming a member of a rising record of scientific our bodies calling for decreasing the density of business poultry farms.
We should name on authorities businesses and industrial farm operators to undertake measures that may enhance the welfare of animals raised for meals. Such measures ought to embody efficient preparation for what occurs to the animals throughout illness outbreaks and different well being and security emergencies.
It’s no secret that farmed animals typically undergo considerably whereas they’re nonetheless alive. They don’t deserve a merciless dying.
Gwendolen Reyes-Illg, DVM, is a veterinary advisor for the Animal Welfare Institute.
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