PH12-13: Animal Welfare at Slaughter Flashcards
What are the key aspects of animal welfare in Transport?
- No person shall transport animals or cause animals to be transported in a way likely to cause injury or undue suffering to them
- The means of transport, loading, and unloading facilities are designed, constructed, maintained, and operated so as to avoid injury and suffering and ensure the safety of the animals.
- THE ANIMALS ARE FIT FOR THE JOURNEY
- The personnel handling animals are trained or competent to carry out their tasks without using violence or any method likely to cause unnecessary fear, injury, or suffering.
What do you need to be a transporter?
No person shall act as a transporter unless he holds an authorisation issued by a competent authority
Define “Fitness for Transport”. What conditions make an animal not fit for transport?
No animal shall be transported unless it is fit for the intended journey, and all animals shall be transported in conditions guaranteed not to cause them injury or unnecessary suffering.
Animals that are injured or that present physiological weaknesses or pathological processes shall not be considered fit for transport and in particular if:
- Are unable to move independently without pain or to walk unassisted
- Present a severe open wound or prolapse
- Are pregnant females for whom 90% or more of the expected gestation period has already passed, or females who have given birth in the previous week
- Are new-born mammals in which the navel has not completely healed
- Are pigs less than three weeks, lambs less than one week, and calves less than ten days of age, unless they are transported less than 100 km
What is the difference between killing and slaughtering?
Killing: any intentionally induced process which causes the death of an animal
Slaughtering: killing of animals intended for human consumption
Define stunning and simple stunning.
Stunning: intentionally induced process which causes loss of consciousness and sensibility without pain, including any process resulting in instantaneous death
Simple stunning: methods that do not cause instantaneous death
What is the responsibility of an animal welfare officer? What qualifications do they need?
Ensure compliance with the AW regulations
Must have a certificate of competence for ALL operations carried out at the abattoir and the authority to carry out any remedial actions necessary to ensure animal welfare
What is a Standard Operating Procedure?
Set of written instructions aimed at achieving uniformity of the performance of a specific function or standard and includes:
- A schedule of the slaughtering
- Manufactures recommendations for use and maintenance of stunning equipment
- Key stunning parameters for each stunning method
- Checks on the effect of stunning
- Actions to be taken when an animal is not properly stunned
Who needs a certificate of competence?
Any person engaged in:
- The handling and care of animals before they are restrained
- The restraint of animals for the purpose of stunning or killing
- The stunning of animals
- The assessment of effective stunning
- The shackling or hoisting of live animals
- The bleeding of live animals
- The slaughtering according to religious rites
- The pithing of any stunned animal
Who will NOT need a certificate of competence?
An emergency reason relating to welfare where that person has to slaughter or kill the animal immediately.
For primate domestic consumption
Non-commercial purposes
Disease control
A veterinary surgeon acting in the exercise of his/her profession or a person acting under the supervision of a vet surgeon.
Non-human consumption
Who developed the guides to good practice?
British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) and British Poultry Council (BPC)
What records relating to stunning need to be kept and for how long?
Records:
- Manufacturer’s instructions of use and maintenance of any stunning equipment
- Maintenance records of the stunning and killing equipment
- Actions taken by the Animal WElfare Officer
- Records of electrical stunning
- Records of gas stunning
RECORDS TO BE KEPT FOR ONE YEAR
What are the three different types of stunning methods? Give examples of each.
Mechanical
- Penetrative captive bolt
- Non-penetrative captive bolt
- Firearm
- Cervical dislocation
Electrical
- Head only
- Head and body
- Water bath
Gas
- CO2 at high concentration (minimum 80%)
- CO2 in two phases
What form of slaughter is prohibited?
Decapatitation
What are the restrictions on cervical dislocation?
Only as a backup!
No other method available and same person must not kill more than 70 animals per day.
What is the primary objective to captive-bolt stunning?
Induce immediate insensibility by administering a severe blow to the skull of the animal
What is tonic activity?
The animal collapses, stops breathing and becomes rigid, with its head extended and its hind legs flexed towards the abdomen
What are the physical signs of an effective stun?
- Animal collapses
- No rhythmic breathing
- Fixed, glazed expression in the eyes
- No corneal reflex
- Relaxed jaw
- Tongue hanging out
Why is it essential that the correct cartridge is used for the type of stunner, and the size of the species of animal being stunned?
Firing them using smaller charges can lead to inadequate stunning and uneven wear on the equipment itself - leading to failed stuns.
What is a stunning box?
Restain cattle for stunning
What are the two basic types of head restraints in stunning boxes?
Passive: fitted at the front of the stunning ox and prevent the animal from lowering its head, but do not hold the head fast or involved any moving parts
Active:
- Neck-yolk: one or two vertical bars which grip the animal’s neck within the stunning box
- Head-yolk/chin-lift: holds the head rigid outside the stunning box
Where is the best place to stun any animal?
Where the brain is closest to the surface of the head and where the skull is at its thinnest
What do you do when you fail to stun? Why do you do this?
If an animal is not properly stunned it must be re-stunned immediately. When a captive-bolt enters the skill it causes massive damage and swelling around the wound; the swelling will absorb much of the impact of a second shot and this will mean the shock wave is not as effectively transmitted to the brain.
A repeated shot must always be placed so as to avoid the immediate area of the first shot. It should be placed as close to the correct stunning position as possible - above and to one side.
Where do you stun a cattle with a penetrative captive-bolt?
In the middle of the forehead - at the crossing point of two imaginary lines drawn between the eyes and the centre of the base of the opposite horns
Where do you stun a cattle with a non-penetrative captive-bolt?
Approx 20mm above the position used for a penetrative captive-bolt
Where to you stun a deer?
In the middle of the forehead at the crossing point of two imaginary lines drawn from the eyes to the tops of the opposite ears at a right angle to the skull.
Where do you stun horses?
In the middle of the forehead about 10mm above where two imaginary lines drawn from the eyes to the opposite ears cross. Tilt the stunner so that the bolt is directed through the upper brain towards the brainstem
Where do you stun a polled sheep? a horned sheep?
Polled: the muzzle of the stunner should be placed on the highest point of the head, and on the mid-line, aiming straight down
Horned: the muzzle of the stunner should be placed on the midline, behind the ridge between the horns, and aimed towards the base of the tongue.
Where should you stun a goat?
Place stunner behind the bony mass on the midline and aim towards the base of the tongue.
Where should you stun pigs?
20mm above eye level on the midline of the forehead aiming towards the tail.
Where do you stick cattle, dear, and horses?
Jugular furrow at the base of the neck. The knife is directed towards the entrance of the chest to sever all the major blood vessels arising from the heart.
Where do you stick sheep and goats?
Like cattle or close to the head across the throat
Where do you stick pigs?
Insert a knife in the midline of the neck at the depression in front of the breastbone
Raise the skin with the knifepoint using light pressure and a lifting movement.
When penetration has been made, the knife handle should be lowered so that the blade is in a near-vertical position and pushed upward.
How should head-only stunning electrodes be placed?
They must span the brain as directly as possible. Positioning the electrodes anywhere else means that more of the current may flow through lower resistance pathways and not entirely through the brain, thus reducing the effectiveness of the stun.
Where should the electrodes of a head-to-back stun-kill be placed?
The rear electrode should be placed firmly in the middle of the back above the heart. The front electrode should then be placed on the head level with, or forward of the eyes.
How does carbon dioxide stunning machine work for pigs?
Once in the gondola, the animals are lowered into the chamber.
- Since CO2 is heavier than air, the max concentration is at the bottom.
- No more than 30 seconds must elapse after a pig has entered the chamber before it i in a gas concentration of 85% or more
With most systems, there will be at least one stop before the animals reach maximum concentration
- Each part of the cycle should be no more than 25 seconds
What visual and physical checks do you do on the pigs to make sure they are being properly stunned in a CO2 stunner?
