Pig Slaughter tomorrow, please help

[Dunlin]

I am hoping someone can give me a bit of help here.

I am supervising one of my landlady's pigs being culled tomorrow as she is too devastated to be there, the poor boy has an irreparable hernia that's too much for him now.

I have never seen a pig culled and I have no idea about what the process entails. He's a pet pig and very friendly so he'll come to me when called, I just want to be prepared for what I will see tomorrow as I'm only familiar with horses, dogs and cats being PTS. Apparently it's a "gun", bolt I presume? Is there any kind of sedative given beforehand, dart or something or is he just shot? I've got him a whole bag of oranges and a bag of fresh salad for his final meal, he absolutely loves his oranges.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm feeling nauseated about it already, poor Perky Napolean he's such a lovely boy and only 2 years old, much loved and friendly piggy going to the bridge

 

[AdorableAlice]

Is he going to a slaughter house or being done at home ?

 

[Dunlin]

He's being done at home on the smallholding. We have 2 other pigs and 2 sheep there so will put either Napolean in the pen or the other animals so they're all separated.

I've been told it's possibly either a bolt gun or stun gun to the head and then cut to the throat, but the latter part I am unsure of as he's not for meat, he will be taken away by the same company as they dispatch and dispose. It's costing £42 if that's any indication of how it will be?

 

[Polonaise]

Not an expert but I have seen pigs pts'd by stunning followed by bleeding, bolt gun followed by "pithing", and free bullet. With all options the pig should fall to its side immediately, this will probably but not definitely be followed by a period of involuntary movement which can be quite violent. In short it is not a nice thing to watch but actually less distressing to the pig then attempting to find a vein for sedation or chemical euthanasia (pigs do not like needles or being restrained).

 

[Dunlin]

Thanks Polonaise, you are right about them being restrained, one escaped the other day and was "noosed" by an RSPCA Inspector, it was massively traumatic for him and his screams were deafening and horrible to hear. We just want him to go the quickest and 'kindest' way, the electrocution thing really upset me as it sounded horrible. I guess I'll find out what the method is tomorrow morning and see if I need to be there till the end as he will just go straight to a bucket of food. I'll give him a cuddle goodbye but would rather not be there when it happens as I am being selfish but having animals put down by gun really upsets and haunts me especially the involuntary muscle spasms and the choking sounds.

 

[Kallibear]

I'd guess captive bolt. Possibly a stun first although that's more if they're intended to bleed them out (which requires them to be unconscious but still alive)

A stun gun is a tube that produces an extremely powerful 'blow' from it's end. It's applied between the eyes and knocks them unconscious immediately. Equivalent of being accurately hit with a hammer. They will recover within a couple of min if left although it often fractures the skull. They'll not use an electric stun gun as that requires mains electricity setup.

The captive bolt is like a gun. It requires careful placing and angling to get it right, hence they sometimes stun them first (which requires less accuracy). With a tame animal they'll prob not use a stun first.

Once shot they crumple immediately and sometimes convulse a little but there's not much blood. They are dead instantly and the movement is just nerves. They may pith the animal (insert a long stick into the gun hole and wiggle it about to destroy the brain and spinal cord fully). It causes them to covulse, sometimes violently, but ensures the animal is completely dead, inc it's hind brain. Until then they may still appear to be breathing or their heart beating as that's all controlled by the back of the brain (the bit the bolt doesn't reach).

It's very quick and extremely untraumatic for the animal. They only need to touch a stun gun to them and a good knackers man can do the same with a captive bolt: the gun just seems to brush their forehead and they fall.

 

[Dunlin]

Thank you Kallibear.

It never happened as the slaughterman came along this morning and felt that we were not being told the truth about the hernia being inoperable so we have changed to Synergy Group now and they will come out tomorrow to re-asses him and they sounded a lot more positive.

It sounds like the kill process is very traumatic for humans to watch/hear but does seem to be the best option for the animal. Hopefully Perky can be saved, if not I do feel a little 'better' about the death penalty! Thank you for the very helpful post.

 

[Kallibear]

That's good news. However pigs are extremely difficult to operate on, firstly because they're nigh on impossible to sedate and anethitise (trying to hold the big ******* still for long enough is a nightmare) and secondly because they're so fatty and thick skinned. Hope they can fix him though.

 

[Dunlin]

Yes, you are very correct with that and we don't want to really traumatise him and put him through too much especially if an operation is very costly and has a low success rate or it's short term success but as Kune Kune's can live for 10+ years and he's only just turned 3 we thought a second opinion was worth hearing