Effective animal stunning

An animal stunning apparatus for inducing unconsciousness and insensibility of a live subject animal, the apparatus comprising:

• an applicator relatively movable in relation to the live subject animal's head for bringing the applicator into contact with an application point defined on the animal's head overlying a frontal portion of the animal's brain, the applicator having a coupling conformation to couple microwave radiation therethrough to the head and to the frontal portion of the brain of the subject animal when in contact with the application point on the animal's head;
• a microwave generator for generating and radiating microwave energy of a suitable power level and frequency;
• a waveguide located to receive and direct the microwave radiation from the generator to the applicator located at an operative end of the waveguide to heat the frontal portion of the brain of the subject animal beneath the application point which the applicator contacts in use;
• an auto-tuner operatively associated with the waveguide and configured to detect reflected power of microwave radiation in the waveguide resulting from the degree of the impedance matching between the applicator and the animal's head and which tunes the waveguide to reduce the reflected power and increase the transfer of microwave power to the animal's head;
• a visual display responsive to operation of the generator and the auto-tuner and operative to display the microwave power being generated in use by the microwave generator to enable monitoring of an effective power transfer to the animal's head and visual assessment of an effective syncope, wherein the microwave power is determined from the generated microwave energy and the reflected power as being transferred through the applicator operation;
• a memory device operative to continually log during the operation of the apparatus the microwave power being generated by the microwave generator to provide a stored record of parameters of an animal stunning operation for subsequent analysis for regulatory compliance, process research, and operation management purposes;
• and
• a switch operable to discontinue the application of microwave radiation effecting heating of the frontal portion of the brain after a period of time sufficient to raise the temperature of the frontal portion of the brain of the subject animal to thereby induce the unconsciousness and insensibility.

A method of stunning an animal for inducing unconsciousness and insensibility of the animal, the method comprising:

• locating an applicator in contact with an application point on the animal's head immediately overlying the frontal portion of the subject animal's brain, the applicator having a coupling conformation to couple microwave radiation through the applicator to the head and to the frontal portion of the brain of the subject animal;
• generating microwave radiation of a suitable power level and frequency and directing the radiation through a waveguide to the applicator at an operative end of the waveguide to heat the frontal portion of the brain of the subject animal;
• detecting reflected power of microwave radiation in the waveguide and, in response to the level of the reflected power, tuning the waveguide so as to reduce the reflected power being detected by changing the impedance of the waveguide and the applicator to substantially conform with the impedance of the head and thereby increase the transfer of microwave power to the head;
• visually displaying during the stunning operation the microwave power being generated by the microwave generator, the microwave power being detected as reflected within the waveguide and arising from the degree of the impedance matching with the head, and the power determined from the generated and reflected power as being transferred through the applicator throughout the stunning operation thereby enabling visual monitoring of the effective power transfer and visual assessment of an effective syncope of the animal;
• continually logging during the stunning operation the microwave power being generated by the microwave generator, the microwave power being detected as reflected within the waveguide and arising from the degree of the impedance matching with the head, and the power determined from the generated and reflected power as being transferred through the applicator throughout the stunning operation so as to provide a stored record of parameters of the stunning operation for subsequent analysis for regulatory compliance, process research, and operation management purposes;
• and
• continuing the application of the microwave radiation to effect the heating for a period of time to raise the temperature of the frontal portion of the brain, the period being sufficient to induce insensibility.