Many carp die before slaughter, due to disease, injuries, thermal shock, stress, or suffocation. Others are killed on streets or at markets. A carp is supposed to be stunned by a blow on the head and then bled to death, but this procedure is too often violated. As shown by our investigations, many carp are insufficiently stunned while being bled; others are not bled immediately and recover while having their scales cut.

Some carp are stunned and then left on a table or sold to people, so they may wake up in severe pain.

"Home-made" butcheries are practically unregulated, and fish are often beaten to death by untrained individuals. A common anecdote about an uncle chasing a carp with a hammer under a wardrobe is, unfortunately, not that far from reality.