Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison making their trek up Bascom Hill on Sept. 8 saw dozens of small pink flags and a large banner that read “Campus Gas Chamber, To Record the Truth”.
Ryan Blum, a recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate, started the campaign after allegedly sneaking into UW-Madison’s Meat Science & Animal Biologics Discovery (MSABD) Building and releasing footage of pigs being placed into an gas chamber.
Blum told The Daily Cardinal he planned the unauthorized entry over the course of a year after he discovered CO2 tanks located behind the MSABD building on Halloween in 2024.
Blum told the Cardinal he accessed the facility in the spring of 2026. Per his lawyer’s advice, he declined to comment on how he gained entry.
He did, however, describe the process as “probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“It was surprising how big the gas chamber is… it just really hits you how large this thing actually is,” Blum said.
Previous media described the UW-Madison chamber as a “15-foot pit filled with carbon dioxide.” Blum’s footage appears to show multiple pigs loudly vocalizing within a dark room, but it is difficult to identify the specific surroundings.
UW-Madison operates the only university-controlled CO2 stunner in the country, but the equipment is widely used in commercial abattoirs.
The ethics of using gas chambers in swine slaughter is hotly debated, with some saying the practice causes unnecessary pain to the animals and others maintaining it is the most humane form of slaughter. New York Times Opinion writer Nicholas Kristof penned an article in favor of the pigs in 2023, noting that a group of veterinarians signed an open letter in opposition to industry officials using the practice.
In a 2024 Meat and Poultry article, Jeff Sindelar, an Extension Meat Specialist, describes controlled atmosphere stunning as “a very calm, very relaxing, very humane process.”
Blum recounted hearing “pigs screaming for their lives” upon his entry to the facility. Blum’s main goal in releasing his campaign is to get the message to a wider audience.
“I doubt a fraction of the students on campus… know it goes on. They certainly don’t know it's that cruel,” Blum said.
“The facility was built for students to learn about the safe and humane handling of animals and food products,” Gillian Drummond, the Director of Public Affairs for the Office of Strategic Communication at the university, said.
Drummond added that while the MSABD does have a carbon dioxide system, they are unable to confirm that the video shared by Blum was taken at the UW-Madison facility due to its quality and lack of distinguishable features.
The MSABD building offers in-person tours, and an hour-long Youtube video exists from 2021 showcasing the facility.
In the video, Sindelar takes viewers through an hour-long tour of the building, and shows the gas chamber Blum talks about in his claims early on in the video.
Sindelar refers to the chamber as a CO2 stunner, meant for animals like pigs and sheep to walk into and “render animals unconscious.”
MSABD is open about the use of CO2 to stun pigs in video tours, articles and on their website.
Blum called for investing in an animal-free future of the food system, speaking about alternative proteins that are plant-based, fermented and cultivated.
“When I was a student I learned about the Wisconsin Idea, and this is the antithesis of the Wisconsin Idea,” Blum said.
