harry potter - Why did the Ministry of Magic choose an ax for carrying out a death sentence?

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Buckbeak (or Witherwings)

is sentenced to death by the Ministry of Magic. Walden Macnair, the Executioner of the Ministry of Magic, is brought to Hogwarts to carry out the sentence.

In the end

the execution didn't actually take place.

There is one thing I can't understand: why kill him with an ax? Why would there be an executioner at all? Wouldn't it be simpler, cleaner, and less torturous for the convict to use a poison, or any other magical way to humanely and legally kill? Even if there isn't a thing like that (which I doubt) it still seems way too brutal to use an ax, especially when you're the Ministry of Magic.

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