{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T20:41:21Z","timestamp":1789764081123,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,20]],"date-time":"2018-03-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1521504000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>On-farm euthanasia is a critical welfare issue in the poultry industry and can be particularly difficult to perform on mature turkeys due to their size. We evaluated the efficacy of two commercially available non-penetrating captive bolt devices, the Zephyr-EXL and the Turkey Euthanasia Device (TED), on 253 turkeys at three stages of production: 4\u20135, 10, and 15\u201320 weeks of age. Effectiveness of each device was measured using both ante- and post-mortem measures. Application of the Zephyr-EXL resulted in a greater success rate (immediate abolishment of brainstem reflexes) compared to the TED (97.6% vs. 89.3%, p = 0.0145). Times to last movement (p = 0.102) and cardiac arrest (p = 0.164) did not differ between devices. Ante- and post-mortem measures of trauma and hemorrhage were highly correlated. Skull fractures and gross subdural hemorrhage (SDH) were present in 100% of birds euthanized with both the Zephyr-EXL and TED devices. Gross SDH scores were greater in birds killed with the Zephyr-EXL than the TED (p &lt; 0.001). Microscopic SDH scores indicated moderate to severe hemorrhage in 92% of turkeys for the Zephyr-EXL and 96% of turkeys for the TED, with no difference between devices (p = 0.844). Overall, both devices were highly effective inducing immediate insensibility through traumatic brain injury and are reliable, single-step methods for on-farm euthanasia of turkeys.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani8030042","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,20]],"date-time":"2018-03-20T06:57:11Z","timestamp":1521529031000},"page":"42","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Evaluation of Two Models of Non-Penetrating Captive Bolt Devices for On-Farm Euthanasia of Turkeys"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3336-5060","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Caitlin","family":"Woolcott","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"},{"name":"The Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stephanie","family":"Torrey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"},{"name":"The Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1547-0139","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patricia","family":"Turner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lilia","family":"Serpa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"},{"name":"The Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karen","family":"Schwean-Lardner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tina","family":"Widowski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"},{"name":"The Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"National Farm Animal Care Council (2016, June 21). 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