October 16, 2008
Poultry execution rules compatible with EU law
The control of dangerous contagious poultry disease by mass slaughter using ventilation shutdown was compatible and proportionate with the EU law.
The regulatory provision known as ventilation shutdown is a process of cutting off ventilation where poultry were housed so as to execute them by hyperthermia or organ failure had come into effect on April 20, 2006 by way of the Welfare of Animals and Regulations.
The statutory provisions for ventilation shutdown did not require a guarantee that all avoidable excitement, pain and suffering would be achieved not withstanding the aim of the 1993 Directive for a rapid transition to death.
Despite professional care, the nature and urgency of adopting ventilation shutdown for use as a last resort was not always possible.
The specific requirements were to take appropriate measures to kill animals as soon as possible and in any event before they regain consciousness and to not interfere with them until after death.
These were the requirements directed to means and not to the success of such means or a guarantee that death would ensue in every case without more from unconsciousness.
For the protection of public health and safety, in conjunction with considerations of fact and fear associated with the issue of compatibility, there were no grounds for striking down the provision.
Allowing ventilation shutdown as a method of last resort for the protection of the public can lead to serious outbreaks of dangerous diseases demanding it.
