Pithing arrows: Best biosecurity practices for the slaughter of animals
- Pithing arrows are used to ensure that an animal dies after stunning.
- The arrows destroy parts of the brain and spinal cord, ensuring death and reducing the kicking reflex that can occur after stunning.
- They seal the stun hole, providing good biosecurity.
Pithing: Emergency and Humane Slaughter
Pithing is an effective and legitimate method of ensuring a quick death of animals not intended for human consumption, such as for accidents, emergencies or animals killed during disease control operations.
Disposable pithing arrows allow the slaughterhouse to adopt best practice to ensure humane slaughter, i.e. they provide good biosecurity protection and eliminate the need to bleed the animal.
The arrows are designed to be for single use only. This ensures that the arrows do not pose a risk of spreading disease and that they remain with the animal when it is discarded.