Burdizzo
The Burdizzo is the name brand of a company that makes a castration device (an emasculatome) which employs a large clamp designed to break the blood vessels leading into the testicles. Once the blood supply to the testicles is lost, testicular necrosis occurs, and the testicles shrink, soften, and eventually deteriorate completely. When the device is used, the operator crushes the spermatic cords one at a time, leaving a space in between in order to prevent an interruption of blood-flow to the scrotum.
Animals
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The Burdizzo is used primarily on farm animals such as cattle and sheep.[1] Castration via this method is an appealing approach because it seemingly causes less chronic pain than elastic banding and less acute pain than surgical castration, yet with all the benefits of bloodless castration in cattle. However, Swiss researchers reported calves castrated with this device when younger than 12 to 16 weeks may retain functional testes. It's not know why it may happen. It's been proposed that it fails either due to spermatic cord being too small to crush or due to regeneration. Castration failure due to tool operator error has been reported more often with this method than for other methods. Some studies have reported less weight loss for calves castrated via this device versus surgical castration. The greatest advantage of the Burdizzo over other methods is that, because the spermatic cords are crushed within the scrotum, no open wound is exposed to the environment, protecting the injury from flies, environment, and infectious agents.[2]
Humans
[edit]Burdizzos have also been used by some human males as a means of self-castration;[3] though it lessens the risk of infection as no skin is broken, it is considered unsafe for humans, as the Burdizzo was not originally designed for human use, and causes blunt force trauma to the spermatic cords, which are thickly wrapped in nerve fibres.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Hebert, Ernest (1986-10-26). "MUD AND SYRUP". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
- ^ "New Mexico State University". Publications. Retrieved 2025-02-21.
- ^ a b "Miami New Times". Archived from the original on 2011-09-17. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
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