Burdizzo

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A nine-inch Burdizzo, used primarily on goats, small calves, and sometimes on humans.

The closed jaws of a nine-inch Burdizzo.

The Burdizzo is a castration device 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.

The burdizzo is used primarily on farm animals. For example, pampered cattle, used for Kobe beef, are often castrated by this method because of the reduced risk of bleeding and infection.

Burdizzos have also been used by some human males as a means of self-castration, often by those seeking a remedy for a high sex drive, or those who, for religious or personal reasons, seek to become eunuchs. The burdizzo has also been used by some transsexual women and other male-to-female transgender persons, as an alternative to the surgical procedure known as an orchidectomy. Because an incision is not required, castration by burdizzo is usually bloodless and, according to some research, has a lower risk of infection, compared with traditional methods. However, because the burdizzo was not originally designed for human use, and because fairly little research has been done on burdizzo castrations in humans, many physicians and others do not consider the burdizzo to be a safe castration method for humans.