Alcorn

Almond

Alonso‐Spilsbury

Alosta

Alvaro

Anand

Anil

Baier

Ball

Barcroft

Bassett

Batten

Beausoleil

Bellieni

Bennet

Berger

Bissonnette

Bocking

Boddy

Bogolyubsksiy

Born

Braunmiller

Breen

Campbell

Casey‐Trott

Cautilli

Clancy

Clark

Clewlow

Cloete

Conrad

Cook

Dalin

Darnall

Dauger

Dawes

de Jong

DeCasper

Desborough

Dickerson

Dobbing

Drury

Duncan

Dunwiddie

Eaton

EFSA

EFSA (European Food Safety Authority)

EFSA AHAW Panel

Evans

Ewart

Ferguson

Fraser

Friede

Galpin

George

Gerritzen

Giannakoulopoulos

Gjesdal

Gluckman

Gnanalingham

Gonzalez

Gregory

Grist

Gruest

Grunert

Guffy

Gunn

Habermehl

Harding

Harris

Hasan

Hawkins

Heinonen

Hepper

Higashi

Hohimer

Holdsworth

Huang

Hunter

Husa

Ioffe

Ishwar

EFSA Journal

null null

Simon More

Dominique Bicout

Anette Botner

Andrew Butterworth

Paolo Calistri

Klaus Depner

Sandra Edwards

Bruno Garin‐Bastuji

Margaret Good

Christian Gortazar Schmidt

Virginie Michel

Miguel Angel Miranda

Søren Saxmose Nielsen

Antonio Velarde

Hans‐Hermann Thulke

Liisa Sihvonen

Hans Spoolder

Jan Arend Stegeman

Mohan Raj

Preben Willeberg

Denise Candiani

Christoph Winckler

Crossref

Animal welfare aspects in respect of the slaughter or killing of pregnant livestock animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses)

More, Simon J.

Bicout, Dominique

Bøtner, Anette

Butterworth, Andrew

Calistri, Paolo

Depner, Klaus

Edwards, Sandra

Garin-Bastuji, Bruno

Good, Margaret

Gortazar Schmidt, Christian

Michel, Virginie

Miranda, Miguel Angel

Nielsen, Søren Saxmose

Velarde, Antonio

Thulke, Hans-Hermann

Sihvonen, Liisa

Spoolder, Hans

Stegeman, Arjan

Raj, Mohan

Willeberg, Preben

Candiani, Denise

Winckler, Christoph

Copenhagen University Research Information System

English

Animal welfare aspects in respect of the slaughter or killing of pregnant livestock animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats,horses)

This scientific opinion addresses animal welfare aspects of slaughtering of livestock pregnant animals. Term of Reference (ToR) 1 requested assessment of the prevalence of animals slaughtered in a critical developmental stage of gestation when the livestock fetuses might experience negative affect. Limited data on European prevalence and related uncertainties necessitated a structured expert knowledge elicitation (EKE) exercise. Estimated median percentages of animals slaughtered in the last third of gestation are 3%, 1.5%, 0.5%, 0.8% and 0.2% (dairy cows, beef cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, respectively). Pregnant animals may be sent for slaughter for health, welfare, management and economic reasons (ToR2); there are also reasons for farmers not knowing that animals sent for slaughter are pregnant. Measures to reduce the incidence are listed. ToR3 asked whether livestock fetuses can experience pain and other negative affect. The available literature was reviewed and, at a second multidisciplinary EKE meeting, judgements and uncertainty were elicited. It is concluded that livestock fetuses in the last third of gestation have the anatomical and neurophysiological structures required to experience negative affect (with 90–100% likelihood). However, there are two different possibilities whether they perceive negative affect. It is more probable that the neurophysiological situation does not allow for conscious perception (with 66–99% likelihood) because of brain inhibitory mechanisms. There is also a less probable situation that livestock fetuses can experience negative affect (with 1–33% likelihood) arising from differences in the interpretation of the fetal electroencephalogram, observed responses to external stimuli and the possibility of fetal learning. Regarding methods to stun and kill livestock fetuses at slaughter (ToR4), sets of scenarios and respective actions take account of both the probable and less probable situation regarding fetal ability for conscious perception. Finally, information was collated on methods to establish the dam's gestational stage based on physical features of livestock fetuses (ToR5)

More, Simon

Botner, Anette

Saxmose Nielsen, Søren

Stegeman, Jan Arend

Explore Bristol Research

https://curis.ku.dk/portal/files/179595723/More_et_al_2017_EFSA_Journal.pdf

Animal welfare aspects in respect of the slaughter or killing of pregnant livestock animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses)

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Crossref

Copenhagen University Research Information System

Explore Bristol Research