mjelse
Chirping
- Aug 18, 2008
- 35
- 0
- 75
I researched this because I wanted to know. One of the jobs of vets is to investigate the suffering and stress associated with different methods of killing animals. There are whole papers (scientific) written on this. They can determine suffering, stress, and time to death by measuring stress hormones and physiological stress indicators as the animal is dying. I read a lot, several times when I faced this issue, and here is what I learned:
- "Cervical separation" is considered the most humane method. This involves putting the animal under your arm and pulling and twisting the head. It is obviously something you would need to observe and practice. If you botched the job you would feel horrible.
- Cutting off the head or shooting them could cause a very quick death, but chopping the head of would also require skill and nerve, and shooting them has the same issue plus you need a gun
- They can be asphyxiated with carbon dioxide. It gets in their eyes, causing stinging and suffering, but some people say that if you mix the CO2 with oxygen that is alleviated and it is not a bad death. I have really tried to figure this out because sometimes something bad happens on a Sunday! It's complicated, and I don't know that it woudl work well for an animal larger than a rodent.
- Vets can kill them with injected depressants. One gave one an anesthetic gas first. This is so not bad compared to the other methods above.
I am with the people who say give her a chance. There are lots of ways to fix problems of mites and lice. Maybe she is ailing because of those, and if you fix that she could have some more good time. I wouldn't kill an animal unless they were really suffering. People are all different, some folks are OK with "culling" an animal that is not healthy. Others are not able to do that without suffering themselves. I'm the second kind! If you are, too, clean her up, give her and the other birds a place to take dust baths, check out the posts and articles on treatment of external parasites.
- "Cervical separation" is considered the most humane method. This involves putting the animal under your arm and pulling and twisting the head. It is obviously something you would need to observe and practice. If you botched the job you would feel horrible.
- Cutting off the head or shooting them could cause a very quick death, but chopping the head of would also require skill and nerve, and shooting them has the same issue plus you need a gun
- They can be asphyxiated with carbon dioxide. It gets in their eyes, causing stinging and suffering, but some people say that if you mix the CO2 with oxygen that is alleviated and it is not a bad death. I have really tried to figure this out because sometimes something bad happens on a Sunday! It's complicated, and I don't know that it woudl work well for an animal larger than a rodent.
- Vets can kill them with injected depressants. One gave one an anesthetic gas first. This is so not bad compared to the other methods above.
I am with the people who say give her a chance. There are lots of ways to fix problems of mites and lice. Maybe she is ailing because of those, and if you fix that she could have some more good time. I wouldn't kill an animal unless they were really suffering. People are all different, some folks are OK with "culling" an animal that is not healthy. Others are not able to do that without suffering themselves. I'm the second kind! If you are, too, clean her up, give her and the other birds a place to take dust baths, check out the posts and articles on treatment of external parasites.