Progress and challenges in animal handling and slaughter in the U.S.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 12-14).Both well-designed equipment and trained employees are required to maintain a high standard of animal welfare during slaughter. When McDonald's Corporation started auditing U.S. beef and pork slaughter plants in 1999, there were great improvements in handling and stunning. They used a numerical objective scoring system. It contained five basic measurements: (1) the percentage of animals stunned on the first attempt, (2) percentage rendered insensible prior to hoisting, (3) percentage vocalizing during handling and stunning, (4) percentage that fall down and (5) percentage moved with an electric goad. Each variable was scored on a simple yes/no basis. Baseline data was collected prior to the McDonald's audits in 1996. The most striking improvements were in beef. The average effective first shot stunning score was 89.5% in 1996, 96.2% in 1999 and 98.6% 5 years later in 2003. The average percentage of cattle vocalizing during stunning and handling was 8% in 1996, 2.4% in 1999 and 2.0% in 2003. A total of 50 plants were audited. Most plants were able to greatly improve welfare by improving stunner maintenance; installing non-slip floor gratings in stun boxes and better training. They also had to make simple, low cost changes to eliminate distractions that cause animals to balk and refuse to move. The most common ways to improve animal movement were: (1) install a lamp on a dark race entrance, (2) move ceiling lamps to eliminate sparkling reflections, (3) muffle air hissing, (4) install shields and solid sides on races to prevent animals from seeing moving people up ahead and (5) eliminate air drafts that blow in the faces of approaching animals. A major remaining problem area is in plants that are not in a program of yearly audits by restaurants. Serious animal abuse has occurred in some of these non-audited plants

The recent 2007 Portugal earthquake (Mw=6.1) in the seismotectonic context of the SW Atlantic area

An event of magnitude Mw 6.1(EMSC) occurred on 12/02/2007 at 10:35 UTC off coast of South-Western Portugal. The earthquake had its epicentre in the eastern Horseshoe Abyssal Plain, at 175 km South-West of San Vicente Cape (Figure 1). This earthquake is the largest earthquake since the great instrumental earthquake, Ms=8.0 (USGS), occurred on February 28th, 1969 in the same epicentral area. This earthquake was followed by four small aftershocks with magnitude less or equal to 3.5. There has been no reported damage associated to the event since habitated regions are too far away from the epicentre. This event has been widely felt in Portugal, particularly in the Algarve Region (I=IV – IM information), Southern Spain and Western Morocco and up to 700 km away of the epicentre (Salamanca, Madrid) (EMSC report in http://www.emsc-csem.org)

Strong ground motion in southern Portugal due to the 1755 Lisbon earthquake

The strong earthquake (M=8.8) that struck a large part of the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Morocco on November 1, 1755, was caused by the motion along a fault which localisation and spatial extent are still uncertain. According to recent numerical modelling of tsunami wave travel times, it seems that the tsunamigenic fault may be lo- cated off the southwestern coast of Portugal. Multi-channel seismic profiles in the area showed the existence of large submarine hills of tectonic origin, 100 km offshore Cabo de São Vincente, and led to the identification of active faults that may be responsible for the earthquake. E3D, a finite-difference seismic wave propagation code, is used to implement various source rupture scenarios. Based on available geophysical data and geological evidences, we propose a 3D velocity model of the upper mantle, crust, and sedimentary cover, for south Portugal and the adjacent Atlantic area. The model is constrained thanks to data available from recent instrumental earthquakes. We are able to test several possibilities, and to compare synthetic ground motion obtained onshore with historical evaluations of seismic intensity. Directivity of the source, as well as site effects, may explain the particular distribution of strong ground motion observations

Designing Meat Packing Plant Handling Facilities for Cattle and Hogs

The focus is on design, more specifically, "animal handling facilities which are labor saving and reduce bruise losses". The article studies: Unloading Chutes, Stockyard Design, Hog Plant Stockyard, General Purpose Small Stockyard, Beef Stockyard, Cattle Crowding Pens, Hog Crowding Pens, Slopes in Chutes and Crowding Pens, Single File Chutes General Recommendations, Single File Chutes for Cattle, Slaughter Restrainers

Serpentine Cattle Chute Gives Handling Advantages

The article discusses the efficiency of a curved chute as opposed to a straight chute when leading cattle into a conveyor restrainer. The article was published in The National Provisioner in 1984

Brief Report: Response to National Institutes of Health Report

The article discusses the National Institutes of Health Report and its lack of research on sensory problems in autism

Welfare of Cattle during Slaughter and the Prevention of Nonambulatory (downer) cattle

The article focuses on keeping cattle calm and removing distractions that would scare cattle back from the chute