Restraint

Restrainers are designed to hold individual animals and present them in such a way that the stunner electrodes can be easily and accurately applied. Animals held in a restrainer can be stunned with head-only, head-to-back or head-to-body electrodes. With any type of restrainer, if the electrodes are being applied manually, the operator must be able to stand in a comfortable position. Ideally, placement of electrodes should be from above, rather than from the front, to prevent animals from shying away.

Electrodes are more likely to be poorly positioned if the animals are difficult to reach, resulting in increased frequency of ineffective stunning. The use of a counter-balance with manual stunning tongs will reduce operator fatigue, which can also lead to poor positioning of electrodes. The operator must have easy access to controls that will stop the restrainer and release the animal in the event of a problem. There are two types of restrainer: static, where the animal walks into a box to be restrained; or conveyor, which automatically presents a continuous line of restrained animals to the operator.

Next: Static Restrainers