Pigs in the gas chamber

Pigs in the gas chamber at BMK slaughterhouse. Pigs are forced through a narrow race, into the barred gondola where they are lowered into carbon dioxide gas. Pigs die in agony, thrashing and screaming at the bottom of the chamber. BMK Foods uses a 'dip-lift' chamber design with one gondola. Pigs are gassed 2-5 per gondola, or a single sow. They are capable of killing hundreds of pigs every day.

At this facility, investigators found that some pigs would start to be affected by the gas before the gondola was even lowered, meaning that they would slowly suffocate to death for minutes as they gasped for air. One group of pigs were left at the top of the chamber, shaking, gasping and foaming at the mouth for twenty minutes before they were finally lowered into the gas.