Answers to Patient, Student, and Clinician Questions About How Animals Are Slaughtered and Used for Food

Abstract

Do cattle and other animals know they are walking up a chute that will lead to their death?" Many people ask this question, which the author first had to answer when starting work in the cattle industry. From observations at slaughter plants, feedlots, and ranches, the author learned that cattle behavior was the same when entering a chute for vaccination and when entering a chute for slaughter. If cattle knew they would die, their behavior should have been wilder and more agitated at the slaughter plant, but that was clearly not the case. This article canvasses points of ethical and clinical relevance for discussions about human dietary consumption and practice.Animals React to Slaughter Do animals know they are going to be slaughtered? Scientific research has clearly shown that physiological measures of stress during handling are similar at a ranch and at a slaughter plant. Cortisol (stress hormone) levels were in the same range in both places. 1,2,3 If the cattle, for example, knew they were going to die, the stress hormone levels should have been much higher at the slaughter plant.The things that frighten cattle are definitely not the same things that frighten people. Cattle and pigs will often stop and refuse to move through a chute if they see little visual distractions that people do not notice. The distractions might be a coat hung on a fence, sharp shadows from fences that create stripes on the floor, or a dangling chain. 4,5 When the visual distractions are removed, the animals will often move more easily through the chute. Animals are also more likely to refuse to move into a chute that has a dark entrance. The addition of a lamp to illuminate a dark entrance will often make cattle and pigs more willing to enter. 6,7 At a recent start-up at a new plant, the cattle moved easily through the chute during the daytime, but they often stopped and refused to move forward in the evening. I told the people at this plant to watch the cattle very carefully and observe when they stopped in the system. Cattle and other animals will often stop and look at visual distractions. When we conferenced each other by video call, I observed that a small bright light on the corner of the building caused the problem. Turning the light off improved cattle Citation