Ventilation Shutdown Is One of the Cruelest Ways to Kill Animals

Ventilation Shutdown Plus (VSD+) is a method used on factory farms to kill large numbers of animals quickly. It involves sealing barns, turning off fans, and adding heat, steam, or gas to raise the temperature above 100°F. Animals like chickens and pigs are left to suffer for hours, eventually dying from heatstroke, suffocation, and organ failure. This method is extremely painful and inhumane.

VSD+ is often used during disease outbreaks, like avian influenza (bird flu), to stop the spread of infection. Between 2022 and 2024, over 100 million birds in the U.S. were affected, and many were killed using VSD+. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) currently allows this method in “constrained circumstances,” but many veterinarians believe it should not be used at all.

Factory farms are the main reason VSD+ happens. Around 94% of animals raised for food in the U.S. live in crowded, dirty conditions. These environments help diseases spread quickly, like COVID-19 in nursing homes. When animals get sick, farmers often choose to kill entire flocks or herds using VSD+ rather than changing their harmful practices. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pork industry also used VSD+ to kill pigs when slaughterhouses shut down. Instead of improving conditions for animals, farmers were rewarded with government money for using cruel methods like VSD+.

Despite being widely criticized, VSD+ continues because of one study funded by the poultry industry. Veterinarians and animal advocates are calling on the AVMA to stop approving this cruel method. Ending VSD+ would be a step toward treating farm animals with more compassion and changing the broken system that allows this suffering to continue.

It’s time to raise awareness and demand that VSD+ be banned. No animal should suffer and die this way.

Read the full article “Ventilation Shutdown Is One of the Cruelest Ways to Kill Animals” by Michael Windsor

🔭   This summary was human-edited with AI-assist.