Welfare of pigs during killing for purposes other than slaughter
View/Open
Author
EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW)
Saxmose Nielsen, Søren
Alvarez, Julio
Bicout, Dominique Joseph
Calistri, Paolo
Depner, Klaus
Drewe, Julian Ashley
Garin-Bastuji, Bruno
Gonzales Rojas, Jose Luis
Gortázar Schmidt, Christian
Michel, Virginie
Miranda Chueca, Miguel Ángel
Roberts, Helen Clare
Sihvonen, Liisa Helena
Spoolder, Hans
Stahl, Karl
Viltrop, Arvo
Winckler, Christoph
Candiani, Denise
Fabris, Chiara
Van der Stede, Yves
Publication date
2020-07-20ISSN
1831-4732
Abstract
Pigs at different stages of the production cycle may have to be killed on-farm for purposes other thanslaughter (where slaughter is dened as killing for human consumption) either individually (e.g.severely injured pigs) or on a large scale (e.g. unproductive animals or for disease control reasons).This opinion assessed the risks associated with the on-farm killing of pigs and included two phases: 1)handling and moving of pigs and 2) killing methods (including restraint). The killing methods weresubdivided into four categories: electrical methods, mechanical methods, gas mixture methods andlethal injec tion. Four welfare consequences to which pigs can be exposed to during on-farm killingwere identied: pain, fear, impeded movement and respiratory distress. Welfare consequences andrelevant animal-based measures were described. In total, 28 hazards were associated with the welfareconsequences; majority of the hazards (24) are related to Phase 2 (killing). The main hazards areassociated with lack of staff skills and training, and poor-designed and constructed facilities. Staff wasidentied as an origin of all hazards, either due to lack of skills needed to perform appropriate killing ordue to fatigue. Corrective measures were identied for 25 hazards. Outcome tables linking hazards,welfare consequences, animal-based measures, hazard origins, prevent ive and corrective measureswere developed and mitigation measures proposed.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
636 - Animal husbandry and breeding in general. Livestock rearing. Breeding of domestic animals
Pages
72
Publisher
Wiley
Is part of
EFSA Journal
Citation
Saxmose Nielsen, Søren, Julio Alvarez, Dominique Joseph Bicout, Paolo Calistri, Klaus Depner, Julian Ashley Drewe, and Bruno Garin‐Bastuji et al. 2020. "Welfare Of Pigs During Killing For Purposes Other Than Slaughter". EFSA Journal 18 (7). doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2020.6195.
Program
Benestar Animal
Link to the related item
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2829]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/