Stunning methods
According to the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s regulations and guidelines (SJVFS 2012:27) on slaughter or killing of animals, ref. no. L22, the following stunning methods may be used for reindeer: captive bolt stunner, rifle or shotgun. These methods are all deemed to be mechanical stunning methods.
The person who is to stun or kill an animal must be very familiar with the stunning and killing methods to be used.
The person who is to stun an animal must be very familiar with the stunning method to be used. A captive bolt stunner using compressed air is shown here. Photograph: Mats Westman.
Remember!
If you are slaughtering reindeer for private consumption or need to slaughter animals in an emergency, you must be fully familiar with
the killing method in question and the handling of the animals in connection with this.
Restraint prior to manual stunning
To be able to stun animals, patience is an important quality – you have to wait for the right opportunity to shoot. To facilitate the stunning procedure in the case of mechanical stunning, it is necessary to limit the animal’s freedom of movement so that the equipment can be positioned and aimed correctly. This is particularly important when a bolt or shot is to be aimed at the head and strike a very limited area. When performing stunning at the slaughterhouse or in the case of home slaughter, it is possible to fix reindeer in position using a stunning pen or to hold the animal’s head still using a halter, restraining device or similar. Smaller animals may be held in position manually.
Restraints – particularly of the kind where animals feel that they are being held in position – may however result in varying degrees of fear and stress. Restraint devices may also cause and injury if they are applied too forcefully or incorrectly, and in a worst-case scenario such reactions may make it more difficult to carry out. The skill of the person fixing the reindeer in position is of major significance to the reaction of the animals and the extent to which the restraints actually facilitate stunning. When the animal’s freedom of movement has been restricted, the animal must be stunned immediately.
When carrying out mechanical stunning, it is important to limit the animal’s freedom of movement so that the equipment can be positioned correctly. Photograph: Mattias Nilsson.