VIDEO: Pigs Slowly Asphyxiate at ‘Animal Welfare Certified’ Slaughterhouses

If you think “Animal Welfare Certified” labels mean anything good for animals, think again.

The Global Animal Partnership’s disingenuously named animal welfare certification approves one of the cruelest methods for stunning pigs before slaughter: the use of gas chambers. That isn’t “animal welfare”—it’s humane-washing.

Global Animal Partnership and the “animal welfare” organizations on its board, including the Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society of the United States), the ASPCA, and Compassion in World Farming, are failing animals while propping up factory farms.

Slaughterhouses stun pigs by suffocating them with carbon dioxide gas, shooting them with captive-bolt guns or firearms, or electrocuting them before workers slit their throats—and all of these methods are allowed by the Global Animal Partnership.

Global Animal Partnership Certification Allows Pain, Panic, and Prolonged Deaths

An estimated 90% of the 130 million pigs slaughtered in the U.S. every year are stunned using carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas. Pigs struggle and panic as workers force them into a crowded chamber. The chamber is filled with high levels of carbon dioxide, which turns into carbonic acid in their bodies, burning their eyes, lungs, and throats. Pigs scream, gasp for air, convulse, and pile on top of one another, desperately trying to escape.

Many suffer for several minutes before they lose consciousness and collapse in the steel prisons.

Multiple investigations have shown pigs violently thrashing and shrieking as the gas asphyxiates them. The Global Animal Partnership allows gas chambers just like this one to be used under its “animal welfare” certification:

CO₂ gassing can often fail to stun pigs—many remain conscious or regain consciousness as workers slit their throats. As documented in one U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, a federal inspector witnessed a pig “breathing, shaking, and struggling to get up” after exiting a severely crowded gas chamber. The pig was hoisted upside down, and a worker repeatedly electroshocked the pig in an attempt to render the animal unconscious, but the pig remained alert and crying out. The worker then cut the animal’s throat.

The use of captive-bolt guns and electrocution are just as cruel. Slaughterhouse workers have repeatedly botched stunning attempts that left pigs crying out in agony. One USDA report revealed that a conscious pig was shot eight times with captive-bolt guns, cried out, and remained standing until a ninth shot finally ended her suffering. Another report revealed that a boar was left crying out and attempting to right himself after a worker electrocuted him three times. Horrific incidents like these are all too common at slaughterhouses.     

After pigs suffer a painful, prolonged death, their flesh may be sold in stores like Whole Foods, with misleading “Animal Welfare Certified” labels on the packaging.

Animal Welfare Groups Know CO₂ Gassing Is Inhumane—So Why Do They Still Endorse It?

Humane World for Animals, a Global Animal Partnership board member, has condemned the use of CO₂ chambers in animal shelters, calling it “particularly troubling.” The organization also said that CO₂ “causes pain and distress even at low concentrations (humans describe the effects of CO₂ exposure as ‘excruciating’).” In that same statement, the group noted that “animals continue to suffer for several minutes until they lose consciousness.” If this “animal protection” group strongly opposes this “painful and distressing” killing method for animals at shelters, why does it endorse the use of CO₂ gas chambers for sensitive pigs as “animal welfare certified” by sitting on the board of directors of the certification program?

This is a clear example of how animal welfare groups prop up factory farms, while animals suffer the same industrial violence.

There Is No Such Thing as “Humane” Meat

Like all our fellow animals, pigs feel pain and fear. They form lifelong friendships, exhibit empathy, and have excellent problem-solving skills. Every pig is a feeling individual who does not want to be killed for their flesh.

Don’t buy into the Global Animal Partnership’s humane-washing scheme. Exploiting and slaughtering animals is never humane. Please urge Humane World for Animals, the ASPCA, and Compassion in World Farming to immediately resign from Global Animal Partnership’s board and stop misleading consumers about what “Animal Welfare Certified” means.