446
But here is what is actually accorded their final unheralded moments, as described
in the New Zealand’s government’s “Animal Welfare (Broiler Chickens: Fully
Housed) Code of Welfare No. 1, 2003”.
19
Consider the prescribed ‘Minimum
Standard No. 11—Humane Destruction.’ We’re not speaking of “maximum” standards, only minimum. This is the language of disingenuous economic expediency.
The underlying goal is to kill as many animals as the markets will compensate. And
to do so by conflating a virtually useless nod to committees charged with oversight
of “ethical” standards throughout a country, with the singular motives and methods
employed by growers, transporters, intensive breeding sites, slaughterers and their
employers, freezing works, the whole final chain of abysmal dispatch into the
mouths of consumers.
The language is as follows: “Humane destruction when necessary must be carried out by the use of concussion and neck dislocation, or electrical stunning and
neck dislocation, or neck dislocation, or euthanasia with at least 70% CO 2 gas or a
mixture of CO 2 70% and argon gas 30%, or at processing plants. When humane
destruction is carried out by gassing, then the procedure must be sufficient to ensure
collapse of every broiler chicken within 35 seconds of exposure to the gas, and
broiler chickens must remain in the gas for at least a further two minutes following
collapse.” Standard No. 11 goes on to declare in section d: “Persons undertaking
humane destruction must be appropriately trained and must ensure that the broiler
chickens are managed carefully and calmly at all stages of the process.” ‘4.2 of the
Standard entitled “Catching and Loading” continues, “If a broiler chicken starts
flapping its wings while being carried to the transport crates, it should be brought
under control by either resting it against the catcher’s leg or by resting it on the
ground. This will help to reduce the risk of hip dislocation. Broiler chickens should
be loaded into the crates in a smooth, controlled action that minimizes the force
exerted on the hip.”
Pursuant to “Minimum Standard No. 13—Catching and Loading” it is written,
“Broiler chickens that are injured during the catching and loading procedures must
be destroyed immediately. The maximum number of broiler chickens that may be
carried at any one time in each hand of a catcher must be no more than four. The
broiler chickens about to be carried to the crates must all be held with their hocks
and shanks aligned in the same manner within the hand…Broiler chickens must be
placed carefully into the crates”.
20
This is written on paper, but the men and women
doing the work are not reading these lines. They are running after terrified chickens.
How are they to destroy them immediately if they injure them? What is the penalty
for injuring them? What is the reality of any of these laws, except on paper to perform a due diligence service to the abysmally disinterested lawmakers and willful
companies profiting from the reckless insanity, in our opinion, of such slaughter?
And, again, all in the context of minimal standards” .
21
19 www.biosecurity.govt/nz/animal-welfare/codes/broiler-chickens/index.htm; op. cit., www.biosecurity.govt.nz/animal-welfare/codes/boiler-chickens/index.htm, p.12.
20 ibid., pp. 12–13 and p.27.
21 op. cit., God’s Country, p. 359.
48 The Mind of a Chicken
But here is what is actually accorded their final unheralded moments, as described
in the New Zealand’s government’s “Animal Welfare (Broiler Chickens: Fully
Housed) Code of Welfare No. 1, 2003”.
19
Consider the prescribed ‘Minimum
Standard No. 11—Humane Destruction.’ We’re not speaking of “maximum” standards, only minimum. This is the language of disingenuous economic expediency.
The underlying goal is to kill as many animals as the markets will compensate. And
to do so by conflating a virtually useless nod to committees charged with oversight
of “ethical” standards throughout a country, with the singular motives and methods
employed by growers, transporters, intensive breeding sites, slaughterers and their
employers, freezing works, the whole final chain of abysmal dispatch into the
mouths of consumers.
The language is as follows: “Humane destruction when necessary must be carried out by the use of concussion and neck dislocation, or electrical stunning and
neck dislocation, or neck dislocation, or euthanasia with at least 70% CO 2 gas or a
mixture of CO 2 70% and argon gas 30%, or at processing plants. When humane
destruction is carried out by gassing, then the procedure must be sufficient to ensure
collapse of every broiler chicken within 35 seconds of exposure to the gas, and
broiler chickens must remain in the gas for at least a further two minutes following
collapse.” Standard No. 11 goes on to declare in section d: “Persons undertaking
humane destruction must be appropriately trained and must ensure that the broiler
chickens are managed carefully and calmly at all stages of the process.” ‘4.2 of the
Standard entitled “Catching and Loading” continues, “If a broiler chicken starts
flapping its wings while being carried to the transport crates, it should be brought
under control by either resting it against the catcher’s leg or by resting it on the
ground. This will help to reduce the risk of hip dislocation. Broiler chickens should
be loaded into the crates in a smooth, controlled action that minimizes the force
exerted on the hip.”
Pursuant to “Minimum Standard No. 13—Catching and Loading” it is written,
“Broiler chickens that are injured during the catching and loading procedures must
be destroyed immediately. The maximum number of broiler chickens that may be
carried at any one time in each hand of a catcher must be no more than four. The
broiler chickens about to be carried to the crates must all be held with their hocks
and shanks aligned in the same manner within the hand…Broiler chickens must be
placed carefully into the crates”.
20
This is written on paper, but the men and women
doing the work are not reading these lines. They are running after terrified chickens.
How are they to destroy them immediately if they injure them? What is the penalty
for injuring them? What is the reality of any of these laws, except on paper to perform a due diligence service to the abysmally disinterested lawmakers and willful
companies profiting from the reckless insanity, in our opinion, of such slaughter?
And, again, all in the context of minimal standards” .
21
19 www.biosecurity.govt/nz/animal-welfare/codes/broiler-chickens/index.htm; op. cit., www.biosecurity.govt.nz/animal-welfare/codes/boiler-chickens/index.htm, p.12.
20 ibid., pp. 12–13 and p.27.
21 op. cit., God’s Country, p. 359.
48 The Mind of a Chicken