Evaluation of Two Models of Non-Penetrating Captive Bolt Devices for On-Farm Euthanasia of Turkeys

On-farm euthanasia is a critical welfare issue in the poultry industry and can be particularly difficult to perform on mature turkeys due to their size. We evaluated the efficacy of two commercially available non-penetrating captive bolt devices, the Zephyr-EXL and the Turkey Euthanasia Device (TED)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnimals (Basel) Vol. 8; no. 3; p. 42
Main Authors Woolcott, Caitlin R, Torrey, Stephanie, Turner, Patricia V, Serpa, Lilia, Schwean-Lardner, Karen, Widowski, Tina M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland MDPI AG 20.03.2018
MDPI
Subjects
animal welfare
Birds
brain death
Brain stem
Euthanasia
Fractures
Heart diseases
Hemorrhage
insensibility
Reflexes
Traumatic brain injury
turkey
Turkeys
brain death
euthanasia
animal welfare
insensibility
turkey
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Summary:On-farm euthanasia is a critical welfare issue in the poultry industry and can be particularly difficult to perform on mature turkeys due to their size. We evaluated the efficacy of two commercially available non-penetrating captive bolt devices, the Zephyr-EXL and the Turkey Euthanasia Device (TED), on 253 turkeys at three stages of production: 4-5, 10, and 15-20 weeks of age. Effectiveness of each device was measured using both ante- and post-mortem measures. Application of the Zephyr-EXL resulted in a greater success rate (immediate abolishment of brainstem reflexes) compared to the TED (97.6% vs. 89.3%, = 0.0145). Times to last movement ( = 0.102) and cardiac arrest ( = 0.164) did not differ between devices. Ante- and post-mortem measures of trauma and hemorrhage were highly correlated. Skull fractures and gross subdural hemorrhage (SDH) were present in 100% of birds euthanized with both the Zephyr-EXL and TED devices. Gross SDH scores were greater in birds killed with the Zephyr-EXL than the TED ( < 0.001). Microscopic SDH scores indicated moderate to severe hemorrhage in 92% of turkeys for the Zephyr-EXL and 96% of turkeys for the TED, with no difference between devices ( = 0.844). Overall, both devices were highly effective inducing immediate insensibility through traumatic brain injury and are reliable, single-step methods for on-farm euthanasia of turkeys.
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ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani8030042