A PhD research student at UK’s University of Glasgow has successfully created a ‘neck dislocation glove’, which aims to humanely kill chicken in poultry farms
Dr Jessica Martin won the Humane Slaughter Assocaition Centenary research training scholarship in 2011 following which she pursued her research at the university aimed at designing a mechanical device to make chicken slaughter more humane.
She designed and prototyped four mechanical devices involving a new mechanical cervical dislocation glove, as a humane alternative to the manual cervical dislocation (MCD) currently used to kill chickens.
The device optimises the process and reduces the time to brain death as well as reducing inconsistencies seen in the current processes. The research continues with investigations on about how to produce it commercially as a competitive replacement for MCD.
The devices were tested for their reliability and welfare impact using post-mortems, reflexes and behaviour, and brain activity analysis.
