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EVALUATION OF FOAM-BASED MASS DEPOPULATION METHODOLOGY FOR FLOOR-REARED MEAT-TYPE POULTRY OPERATIONS
Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org
Citation: Applied Engineering in Agriculture. Vol. 22(5): 787-794. @2006
Authors: M. D. Dawson, E. R. Benson, G. W. Malone, R. L. Alphin, I. Estevez, G. L. Van Wicklen
Keywords: Avian influenza, Broilers, Carbon dioxide, Depopulation, Poultry
Current methods of control for quick spreading, highly contagious poultry diseases, such as avian influenza (AI)
or Exotic Newcastle, require large numbers of poultry to be rapidly killed to prevent further spread. On-farm depopulation,
rather than conventional slaughter at a processing plant, is preferred to avoid the spread of potentially zoonotic agents. It
therefore makes sense to depopulate or euthanize the birds as soon as possible and on site. In these circumstances, the most
appropriate technique that minimizes human and animal health concerns should be used. The options for mass depopulation
are limited, as reported by the 2000 Report of the AVMA Panel on Euthanasia (AVMA, 2001). While these methods are humane
and fairly expedient, these procedures are labor intensive and require a significant number of people be involved in the
process. This project explores the use of a carbon dioxide (CO2) enriched fire fighting foam system to perform mass emergency
depopulation of poultry. The method utilizes a blanket of high expansion foam enriched with carbon dioxide. In four
experimental trials, the method has been shown to provide effective depopulation. The foam with varying concentrations of
carbon dioxide was directly compared to a currently industry accepted CO2-polyethylene tent method, which uses overlapping
layers of polyethylene to cover birds and then gassing with carbon dioxide. The foam and polyethylene tent methods resulted
in death in less than 3 min (CO2-polyethylene 2:08 min, foam with CO2 2:09 min, and foam without CO2 2:54 min).
Preliminary results indicate that the fire fighting foam is as effective or more effective than conventional CO2-polyethylene
tent method.
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