Photo: Delaware Public Media.
Urge the American Veterinary Medical Association To Oppose Torturous Depopulation Methods
‘They’re cooking them alive’:
calls to ban ‘cruel’ killing methods on US farms
Use of heat, steam and suffocating foam to slaughter sick animals is condemned as bird flu epidemic threatens poultry stocks. –The Guardian, March 5, 2022
Here is an excerpt from The Guardian article, which can be read online:
“Vets and animal advocates in the US are calling for restriction on cruel methods of culling birds, as farmers face killing millions of poultry due to a highly virulent avian flu tearing through the country [and around the world].
“In 2020, millions of birds were killed across the US after the Covid-19 pandemic shut down slaughterhouses and left animals stranded on farms. Now, bird flu, which has already led to the slaughter of millions of birds in Europe, is likely to result in another mass depopulation. . . .
“However, two commonly used methods to cull animals on-farm are attracting increasing backlash. The use of firefighting foam to suffocate animals and ventilation shutdown, in which animals are killed with extremely high heat and steam, are still permitted in the US, despite being effectively banned in the EU and labeled ‘inhumane.’
“Poultry flocks sickened with avian flu are commonly killed with carbon dioxide poisoning or firefighting foam, where birds are smothered with a blanket of foam.
“The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says the method involves ‘drowning in fluids or suffocation by occlusion of the airways’ and is ‘not accepted as a humane method for killing animals.’. . .
“Last year, a group of AVMA [American Veterinary Medical Association] members submitted a resolution to classify ventilation shutdown as ‘not recommended.’ A decision on the resolution has not been made, but animal welfare experts say it is time for US-wide rules to govern the treatment of farm animals before slaughter.”
WHAT CAN I DO?
Under public scrutiny and criticism, an AVMA panel is giving “further consideration” to the AVMA’s consent to the practices of smothering chickens, turkeys and ducks to death with firefighting foam and subjecting them, along with factory-farmed pigs, to “ventilation shutdown,” a method that “incorporates components such as heat, humidity, and carbon dioxide, in addition to shutting down the ventilation system, to cause the death of pigs or poultry.” As the panel reconsiders its official stance, please urge the AVMA to adopt a “not recommended” standard of opposition to these brutally inhumane practices in its “AVMA Guidelines for the Depopulation of Animals.”
CONTACT
Dr. Janet Donlin
Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer
American Veterinary Medical Association
1931 North Meacham Road, Suite 100
Schaumburg, IL 60173-4360
Phone: 800-248-2862
Fax: 847-925-1329
Web form: Contact Us
Dr. Cia Johnson
Panel on Depopulation & Director of the AVMA Animal Welfare Division
American Veterinary Medical Association
1931 North Meacham Road, Suite 100
Schaumburg, IL 60173-4360
Phone: 800-248-2862
Fax: 847-925-1329
Web form: Contact Us
UPC LETTER TO THE AVMA
March 29, 2022
Dr. Janet Donlin
Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer
American Veterinary Medical Association
Dr. Cia Johnson
Panel on Depopulation & Director of the AVMA Animal Welfare Division
American Veterinary Medical Association
Dear Dr. Donlin and Dr. Johnson:
On behalf of United Poultry Concerns, I am writing to urge you to adopt a Not Recommended standard of opposition to the inhumane mass-killing of chickens, turkeys, ducks, pigs and other farmed animals by means of ventilation shutdown, carbon dioxide poisoning, and firefighting foam.
We understand that these inhumane methods of destroying large numbers of farmed animals, all at the same time and in the same location, are commonly used, particularly to kill large numbers of birds in cases of collapsed buildings caused by weather conditions, and disease outbreaks of various kinds including the corona virus, avian influenza, and other contagious diseases affecting captive flocks and sometimes also human handlers.
We believe that the AVMA has a moral responsibility toward these trapped and helpless animals and that this responsibility should transcend the AVMA’s approval or “acceptance” of cruel and torturous methods of killing in order to accommodate corporations and farmers.
Please advise what position the AVMA will take on the use of ventilation shutdown, carbon dioxide poisoning, and firefighting foam. We urge the AVMA to adopt a Not Recommended standard, even though the birds, pigs, and other farmed animals have a horrible, hopeless life and death regardless. That being so, the American Veterinary Medical Association still has a moral obligation to oppose these terrible methods of killing sentient individuals.
Thank you very much for your attention. We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Karen Davis, PhD, President
United Poultry Concerns
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23406
Phone: 757-678-7875
www.upc-online.org
*AVIAN INFLUENZA PANDEMICS
Learn more about the true sources of avian influenza pandemics on
industrialized poultry farms:
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) - What You Need to Know
*TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY
Tell Tractor Supply Company to stop selling baby chicks and ducklings. By carrying and selling these birds in its stores, Tractor Supply is encouraging the spread of avian influenza (bird flu) in backyard flocks and beyond. All of their newborns are purchased from factory-farm hatcheries and shipped by mail – most often by airmail – resulting in the stresses that predispose these birds to disease.
See Bird Flu and Tractor Supply: Urge “No Baby Chicks or Ducklings!”
Hal Lawton, CEO
Tractor Supply Company
5401 Virginia Way
Brentwood, TN 37027
Phone: 615-440-4600 extension 4601
Website: www.tractorsupply.com
Customer Solutions
Phone: 1-877-718-6750
Email: customersolutions@tractorsupply.com
Please post a comment on Tractor Supply's Facebook page. You can also comment on the company’s individual store Facebook pages.
Thank you for taking action!
– United Poultry Concerns