October 22, 2026
Are the latest footage from the Tönnies slaughterhouse the turning point?
Are the latest footage from the Tönnies slaughterhouse the turning point?
The footage of CO₂ stunning is now public, the scientific evidence is available, and media attention is there.
For the first time, video footage of CO₂ stunning from the Tönnies slaughterhouse in Kellinghusen, Schleswig-Holstein, is available.
Tönnies is a key player in the German meat industry. The documented violations are not isolated incidents, but reflect conditions at Germany’s most economically significant meat company. In 2025, Tönnies slaughtered a total of 13.3 million pigs. This represents around 30% of all pig slaughter in Germany.
Within just a few days, the footage attracted widespread media attention. Major mainstream news outlets such as Tagesschau, RTL, WELT and t-online reported on the investigation, making the suffering of pigs during CO₂ slaughter visible to a broad audience.
The coverage addresses both animal welfare violations throughout the entire slaughter process and the fundamental problems associated with CO₂ stunning. The investigation therefore creates an important opportunity to advance the call for a ban on this method.
At the request of Animal Rights Watch e.V. (ARIWA), Expertise for Animals analysed video footage from the slaughterhouse with regard to animal welfare concerns.
The footage once again documents the serious animal welfare problems associated with CO₂ stunning: the pigs are forcibly driven into steel gondolas and lowered into a shaft filled with gas. As soon as they begin to inhale the CO₂, they panic — they scream, push their snouts through the bars, climb over one another and try to escape. On average, it takes 30 seconds for the animals to become motionless, and often even longer. For at least this long, they remain conscious as they experience the cruel struggle to breathe.
Our expert report examines the following animal welfare problems associated with gas stunning in greater detail:
- Delayed loss of consciousness
- Clear signs of respiratory distress and panic
- A range of stress and fear responses
- Indications of possible injuries
The observed reactions are consistent with scientific findings on the aversive effects of highly concentrated CO₂.
Dr Kai Braunmiller, an official veterinarian and chair of the Federal Working Group on Meat Hygiene, Animal Welfare and Consumer Protection, has also recently confirmed that CO₂ stunning is associated with pain, suffering and harm. This means that the method is in conflict with the requirements of the German Animal Welfare Act.
Over the past few years, two other major investigations into CO₂ stunning of pigs have been published.
In June 2021, SOKO Tierschutz released video footage from the slaughterhouses in Kulmbach and Landshut, Bavaria. The footage shows the severe effects of the gas on the animals. The images from the Kulmbach slaughterhouse are particularly explosive: the Max Rubner Institute has been conducting various research projects on slaughter there for years. Most recently, animal experiments on CO₂ stunning and helium as an alternative were carried out at the slaughterhouse.
In August 2024, Animal Rights Watch (ARIWA) published footage from the Brand slaughterhouse in the Vechta district of Lower Saxony. Several activists were arrested during the investigations. The slaughterhouse operator subsequently sued two of them and succeeded in obtaining a ban preventing them from showing the footage from the slaughterhouse. The ban does not, however, apply to the press.
The legal dispute over the footage gave rise to the Schlachthofprozess initiative. In April 2026, the initiative and the Lower Saxony Animal Welfare Association filed a collective action against the Vechta Veterinary Office. The aim is to subject CO₂ stunning to legal scrutiny. Our white paper on CO₂ stunning provides the scientific basis for the animal welfare law arguments presented in the collective action.
The latest footage from Kellinghusen once again documents the serious animal welfare problems associated with CO₂ stunning of pigs. The images provide grounds for consistently pursuing the call for a ban on CO₂ stunning.
The extensive media coverage creates an important opportunity for the animal advocacy movement to bring the call for a ban to the attention of audiences beyond those already aware of animal welfare issues. Animal welfare advocates must now increase the pressure on politicians and authorities to act.
Our expert assessment of the animal welfare issues provides a well-founded basis for bringing a ban on CO₂ stunning into public debate and political decision-making.
