PITHING....The Real Story

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

Quote:
GOOGLE is your friend darling.

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

pithing
1. destruction of the brain and spinal cord by thrusting a blunt needle into the vertebral canal and cranium, done on animals to destroy sensibility preparatory to experimenting on their living tissue.
2. an abattoir method of euthanasia; the animal is stunned by a captive bolt pistol and a cane or coiled wire passed into the cranium through the hole. The brain is destroyed by moving the cane about.

SOURCE:http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Pithing

 

[miss_jayne]

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smells like the food they eat, only very intense. not nearly as bad as made out to be.

the pithing works awesome. now i understand why. thanks for the tech info.

 

[the1much]

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smells like a wet chicken.
and i was gonna try pithing once,, got looking, figured it was gonna be to much work to keep his mouth still, and sliced his throat instead.

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Quote:
GOOGLE is your friend darling.

I think we should have a "Google" intructional sticky....

Pithing (as defined by Websters Dictionary) -

1 a: to kill (as cattle) by piercing or severing the spinal cord b: to destroy the spinal cord or central nervous system of (as a frog) usually by passing a wire or needle up and down the vertebral canal
2: to remove the pith from (a plant stem)


Pithing (as defined by Wikipedia) -

Pithing is a slaughtering technique in which the brain of the animal is scrambled with a tool inserted through the hole in the skull created by captive bolt stunning. Pithing further immobilizes the animal after stunning and before exsanguination.

This method also refers to a procedure used in biology classes to immobilize a specimen, by inserting a needle up through the base of the skull (from the back) and then wiggling the needle around, scrambling the brain. It allows for dissecting the frog, as well as observing its living physiology, such as the beating heart and expansion and contraction of the lungs, without causing unnecessary pain to the animal. The specimen remains living because respiration continues through the skin without cerebral control, but it feels no pain once the spine is initially severed.


Associated risks
Today, pithing is deprecated and not practiced on animals intended for the human food supply because it may lead to the spread of fragments of neural matter through the carcass. U.S. regulations are currently in place disallowing importation of beef from cows which have been killed in this manner due to risk of BSE ("mad cow" disease).

Pithing (as defined by dictionary.com)

tr.v. pithed, pith·ing, piths

To remove the pith from (a plant stem).
To sever or destroy the spinal cord of, usually by inserting a needle into the vertebral canal.
To kill (cattle) by cutting the spinal cord.

 

[carress]

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IF the animal can't feel pain, and can't move, and the processor can finish the job, why is it wrong to use this method?

 

[menageriemama]

I think that LCRT was just trying to set the facts straight. I dont think there is anything wrong with pithing, as long as the practitioner understands what is going on

 

[jvls1942]

thanks for clearing that up for me.. I kept comng across "pithing" but had no clue what it was..

the local chicken butcher processer uses an electric knife that the operator puts into the chicken's mouth and punctures the brain.. the bird bleeds out through that incision also and the blood does not get all over the bird..

I personnally cut the artery in the neck, just next to the jaw bone.. then hang the bird by the feet until it is all bled out.

and dead

an old timer told me when I was a kid, (and he was as old as I am now), that if you stick a bird through the mouth and into the brain, the feathers practically fall off by themselves .... I have never tried it..

......jiminwisc.......

 

[TexasLady]

Saw it done, and it is absolutely true. I took the feathers by the handfuls, and they came off in my hand in clumps. I was shocked!