In the heart of modern Western slaughterhouses, a grim reality unfolds daily as millions of pigs meet their end in gas chambers. These facilities, often euphemistically referred to as “CO2 stunning chambers,” are designed to kill animals by exposing them to lethal doses of carbon dioxide gas. Despite initial claims that this method would minimize animal suffering, undercover investigations and scientific reviews reveal a far more harrowing truth. Pigs, driven into these chambers, experience intense fear and distress as they struggle for breath before succumbing to the gas. This method, prevalent in Europe, Australia, and the United States, has sparked significant controversy and calls for change from animal rights activists and concerned citizens alike. Through hidden cameras and public protests, the brutal reality of CO2 gas chambers is being brought to light, challenging the meat industry’s practices and advocating for more humane treatment of animals.
Most pigs in Western countries are killed in gas chambers where they endure a terrifying death, suffocated by CO2 gas.
Gas chambers where gases are pumped in to kill animals in slaughterhouses have been used for many years and different animals, but their use has been increasing, and today most pigs slaughtered in most Western countries die in carbon Dioxide (CO2) gas chambers.
Sometimes euphemistically called “CO2 stunning chambers” because they were supposed to kill the animals with asphyxiation after they lost consciousness, these chambers have up to 90% CO2 gas (normal air has 0.04%), which is a lethal dose. In preparation for slaughter, pigs are typically driven into a gondola and exposed to increasing concentrations of CO2 as they descend to the bottom of a terrifying dark pit. The process can take several minutes, and multiple factors affect how long it takes for the animal to lose consciousness, including the specific concentration of CO2, the speed of the conveyor, and the type of pig.
Each pig requires between 200 and 300 grams of CO2 gas for stunning and potentially even more for killing, which means that the industry is using 30 thousand metric tons of CO2 to stun or kill 120 million pigs each year in the US alone.
These CO2 chambers are widespread in Europe, Australia, and in large US slaughterhouses. They are popular among farmers because they kill many animals a day and require fewer staff members to operate. Gas chambers can kill as many as 1,600 pigs an hour, and originally, they were partially authorised because it was believed the animals would suffer less than if killed traditionally (stunning them with electric shocks and then their throats cut).
However, when undercover investigators managed to record how these pigs were actually dying, they exposed the harsh reality. When being lowered into the chambers, the pigs realise they cannot breathe well before losing consciousness, so they panic and scream in fear. Contrary to what this method was supposed to do, it causes the animals a great deal of distress and suffering.
After reviewing the method, a scientific opinion by the European Food Safety Authority published in June 2020 stated: “Exposure to CO2 at high concentrations is considered a serious welfare concern by the panel because it is highly aversive and causes pain, fear and respiratory distress.” However, this method continues to be used and is the most common method to kill pigs in most Western countries.
Pig Gas Chambers in Australia
Perhaps the first time the world was able to see what happens inside pig gas chambers was thanks to vegan activist Chris Delforce, the writer and director of the 2018 documentary Dominion, which deals with all types of animal exploitation around the world, but mostly in Australia. He was the first one who installed cameras in these chambers and showed how long it took for the pigs to lose consciousness, and how much they squealed in the process, clearly showing how distressed they were, and how long the whole process took. He had recorded the footage in 2014 for the Australian animal rights group Aussie Farms.
According to Australian Pork, about 85% of the over five million pigs killed in Australia every year are stunned with CO2 gas before slaughter, with the remaining 15% receiving electrical stunning.
Pig Gas Chambers in the US
According to the Animal Welfare Institute, the US pig flesh industry kills about 130 million pigs every year, and an estimated 90% are killed using CO2 gas (almost 120 million pigs in total).
In October 2022, activist Raven Deerbrook used three pinhole infrared cameras she had hidden in the Farmer John meatpacking plant located in the LA suburb of Vernon, owned by Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the world, and obtained footage of how pigs died there in CO2 gas chambers. The recordings were the first to reveal what really happens inside a US pig slaughterhouse gas chamber.
On 18th January 2023, dozens of animal rights activists of the group Direct Action Everywhere staged a protest in front of Costco in San Francisco, California, projecting the video of pigs being killed in gas chambers. The footage showed pigs thrashing while dying an agonising death from asphyxiation with CO2 gas. While the footage was shown, audio was played of the pigs screaming through speakers across the street.
More than 100 veterinarians have signed a letter saying the practice of gassing pigs may violate California Humane slaughter laws, which state “The animals shall be exposed to the carbon dioxide gas in a way that will accomplish the anaesthesia quickly and calmly, with a minimum of excitement and discomfort to the animals,” which the footage obtained contradicts.
The website StopGasChambers.org deals with this issue in the US.
Pig Gas Chambers in the UK
According to the UK Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in 2022, 88% of pigs killed in the UK died in gas chambers.
In 2003, a government advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, said that CO2 stunning/killing “is not acceptable and we wish to see it phased out in five years”. Despite this, the use of this gas to kill pigs has instead increased. Peter Stevenson, head of policy at Compassion in World Farming, said “I call on the government to ban the use of high levels of CO2 from 2026, thereby forcing the industry to belatedly invest in developing a slaughter method that is genuinely humane.” However, there is no such thing as a humane way of killing pigs, as they all want to live, and it’s inhumane to deprive them of their right to live their lives.
In May 2023, footage of the use of CO2 to gas British pigs to death at Pilgrim’s Pride abattoir in Ashton-under-Lyne, in Greater Manchester, England, was made public amid calls to ban this method of slaughter for being inhumane. The footage, obtained by vegan activist Joey Carbstrong by planting an undercover camera at the abattoir in February 2021, shows pigs in distress and pain as they are herded into a cage and then lowered into a gas chamber.
At the time, Carbstrong said, “We urgently need to stop using animals as resources because this kind of horror show is the result.” Donald Broom, an animal welfare professor at the University of Cambridge, said to the Guardian about the footage, “The pigs in the video react to the first inhalation of carbon dioxide with fear and obvious discomfort. They try to escape but cannot. The gasping can be seen in all pigs where the mouth is visible. Gasping indicates poor welfare. The period of poor welfare continues until the pig loses consciousness.” Paul Roger, a vet and founder member of the Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law Veterinary Association, said, “If this is the way animals are treated in this plant, they’re not being handled humanely. It’s an unacceptable way to treat any animal, and that really concerns me.”
In February 2024, Carbstrong released his first feature-length documentary titled Pignorant, about the use of gas chambers to kill pigs in the UK, and how these animals are kept before they are sent to die horribly in slaughterhouses.
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Notice: This content was initially published on VeganFTA.com and may not necessarily reflect the views of the Humane Foundation.
