Introduction

• Bovine euthanasia is practiced commonly by both veterinarians and other trained personnel
  • Euthanasia refers to the practice of killing an animal, which will then be disposed of.
  • Slaughter is the term used when discussing animals that will be killed for human consumption Slaughtering an animal for human consumption.
• This article will focus on: euthanasia by firearm and by lethal injection.
• The choice of method is dictated by restraint facilities, practitioner preference, disposal route of the cadaver, post-mortem diagnostic requirements and anesthetic concerns.

Preparation

Lethal injection

Firearms

Free-bullet weapons

Confirmation of death

Further Reading

Publications

Refereed Papers

• Recent references from PubMed and VetMedResource.
• Cockcroft P D (2015) Euthanasia of cattle. In: Bovine Medicine. Wiley Blackwell, UK. pp 263-267.

Other sources of information

• Waine K, Busin V & Strugnell B (2019) Getting the Most out of On-Farm Post-Mortems: A Guide for Veterinary Surgeons. AHDB, UK. Website: https://ahdb.org.uk.
• Animal Welfare Committee of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (online) Practical Euthanasia of Cattle. AABP, USA. Website: www.aabp.org (pdf download).