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2 Info. Rep.: Animal Welfare Inst. 1 (1953)

handle is hein.animal/awiqu0002 and id is 1 raw text is: INF01IuiATIn January-February, 1953 AXIMAL iWELFAltE INSTITUTE 350 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 1, N. Y. Vol. 2 No. I IMPORTANT NEW USE FOR ANESTHESIA The most important new development for the prevention of cruelty to animals in the United States in 1952 took place in Austin, Minnesota at the George A. Hormel packing plant. Ten thousand hogs are received daily at this plant, and all of them are now anesthetized prior to slaughter. -Pain and fear are eliminated and, at the same time, the efficiency of the operation is increased through the use of an in- genious device described by L.W. Murphy in the paper reprinted below. It was pre- sented at the annual convention of the American Meat Institute. The diagram shows how the apparatus is constructed. John C. Macfarlane, Director of Livestock Loss Prevention for the Massachusetts SPCA, and one of the most experienced and able protectors of livestock in the United States, had this to say about his visit to Austin: For the first time in over a quarter of acentury, I was able to stand on the killing floor of Hormel's very clean plant in Austin, Minnesota and observe several hundred hogs prepared for slaughter without any qualms whatsoever....The hog isno longer hoisted while kicking and twist- ing to arrive at another level excited and exhausted, subjected to great physical pain and often arriving with damaged hams...When you buy pork products from the flormel Packing Plant at Austin, Minnesota, you can be assured from now on that the animals were rendered completely unconscious, that there was absolutely no pain and no suf- fering, and that from the moment they were anesthetized to the very end, they never onc6 regained consciousness. The Animal Welfare Institute urges readers of the Information Report to give these facts to their local meat markets, and to show their approval by purchasing Hormel pork products. Text of Address by L. W. Murphy, Service Division George A. Hormel & Co. The new method of hanging hogs is the result of considerable research, long study and as always much trial and error. The project started simply enough. Some one suggested the need for improved working conditions and economies in the operation prior to scalding. Unfortunately for those of us who had to come up with the solution the suggestion came from H. H. Corey* so immediate action was deemed advisable. Indeed, ourentire management realized that the cost of shackling was high; that shackling was a rough job for man and hog; that it was noisy and dirty, and in some degree dangerous and that it probably involved operative losses. As we all know, consistently good sticking is difficult to accomplish with an active hog threshing about suspended on a chain. Ever present is the possibility of harm to meat from overheating a hog and a shock condition caused by climbing a ramp and resisting the drag of the shackling chain. We needed an immobile hog. Anesthesia was the answer. It may be relevant to say that the discovery and successful use of anesthesia in humans, with the surgeon operat- ing on a quiet and unconscious patient, has been called the greatest advance in the history of the human race. At the least, there is a parallel in our method, in the opportunity provided the operator of the knife to do his work better. At first we tried various methods to improve shackling, working with the fully conscious hog. All of these methods were less than satisfactory. We began to make real progress when we tried anesthesia. We built a good-sized pilot plant and fully tested various kinds of gas that would put a hog under, but not out. We were entirely successful with C02, Carbon Dioxide, converted, in our case,from dry .ice. * H.H. Corey, President, Geo. A. Hormel & Co. 1

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