Q&A for How to Humanely Euthanize a Cow

Cows will get sick, or severely injured, or old, and be in a lot of chronic pain and distress. Many people don't realize this. When cows and cattle are too sick or have a bad injury that isn't fixable, the most humane thing to do is not to force that animal to live longer, but to take it out of its misery. Doing so is far kinder than making it live longer just because some humans want that animal to live instead of dying. Cows don't live forever. Also, cows are very big creatures, much bigger than a cat or dog, and not tame. To minimize stress and handling, a well-placed bullet to the forehead is a quick way to euthanize the cow. There's nothing wrong with this form of euthanasia when applied in appropriate circumstances.

Why did the cow survive the first gunshot in the first place? You more than likely had either misplaced the shot or the gun you're using isn't powerful enough to penetrate the skull. Or, you just don't know what you're doing. Aim properly the second time, pay attention to the steps above, and take a second shot immediately after the first. Don't wait because you're allowing the animal to suffer unnecessarily.

Humanely euthanizing a cow has nothing to do with being mean. When a cow is very sick, far too injured to be helped, or is experiencing some form of chronic disease or illness that is causing it to suffer, the kindest and **most compassionate** thing to do is to put it down. It is selfish to think it's "mean" to euthanize an animal that is suffering a slow, agonizing death when we have the tools to speed the process along. The equivalency to killing people is non-existent and completely irrelevant. If you care about animal welfare, one of the tools that you also need to care about is a way to humanely euthanize an animal. This includes your pets; as it does include livestock.

This article is not created for the purpose of arguing the morals of whether slaughtering animals for food is right or wrong. That can be discussed on the Discuss tab of this article.