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The welfare of animals at abattoirs
National Consultative Committee on Animal Welfare (NCCAW) Position Statement - October 2000
NCCAW has the following welfare concerns for animals at abattoirs where they:
- arrive injured or ill during the night
- arrive unscheduled or following a long or delayed journey
- are delivered to an abattoir during an industrial dispute
- are unweaned (such as bobby calves and sucker pigs) and remain unslaughtered at the start of an industrial dispute, and
- are slaughtered without pre-stunning.
NCCAW considers as a matter of principle, and on humane grounds, that slaughtering an animal at an abattoir unless it is pre-stunned is unacceptable. Governments should consult appropriate community groups to address concerns about such slaughter arrangements.
Humane Stunning
To ensure effective and humane stunning, NCCAW considers particular attention must be given to the following.
Restraining an animal's head before stunning
A head restraint is necessary for adult cattle. Failure to restrain an animal's head may lead to imprecise percussive stunning.
Knocking boxes should have a restraint facility to minimise an animal's movement, allowing for the accurate placement of the stunning mechanism.
If the percussion method is used to stun calves, steps are needed to minimise body movement without restraining the animal.
Head restraint is not required or recommended for pigs and is unnecessary for sheep, provided body restraint is satisfactory.
Regular monitoring of efficiency in general, and stunning machinery
Electric stunning equipment must be reliable and well maintained so that it can deliver a minimum 400 volts per stun to:
- lambs at 0.6 amps in a 2 second duration
-
sheep at 1.0 amps in a 2 second duration
-
pigs at 1.3 amps in a 2 second duration, and
- cattle at 1.5 amps 2 second duration
Sealed units are essential to prevent tampering and interference.
The equipment should be checked before each working session to ensure that the amps and volts delivered are appropriate for the animals to be slaughtered. Electrodes should be checked frequently.
To check that equipment is working efficiently, consideration should be given to random checks, by a qualified person, on recovery time from stun.
Stunning applications
Head-only stunning is acceptable for sheep.
Although head-only stunning can be carried out humanely on pigs, the stun-to-stick interval is very short, making head to body stunning (irreversible stun) preferable.
For cattle (including calves), head to body stunning, or the use of a percussive method, is essential.
Batch stunning
NCCAW does not accept batch stunning.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) stunning
NCCAW has some concerns about CO2 stunning of pigs and suggests that AQIS closely examines welfare issues, where it is being introduced. NCCAW recommends that procedures in AQIS Meat Notice 99/17, for the use of carbon dioxide be followed.
NCCAW believes consideration should be given to appropriate contact time and concentration of CO2 gas.
Bolt speed of captive bolt equipment
NCCAW is concerned about the potentially high rate of mechanical breakdown in this type of stunning equipment and considers it should receive daily maintenance, at least to clean and check moving parts.
Furthermore, the volume of explosive charge must match the requirements for the species and type of animal to be slaughtered.
NCCAW notes that the recommendations in AQIS Meat Notice 99/17 require that these issues are addressed in the Animal Care Standard Operating Procedures for Meat Safety Quality Arrangement (MSQA's).
Bird Welfare in Poultry Slaughtering Establishments
To ensure satisfactory standards are met for birds in abattoirs, the following procedures need to be carefully planned and monitored:
- arrangements for the arrival of birds at each plant
- movement of birds from holding areas to assembly areas
- shackling
- electrical stunning, and
- neck-cutting and bleeding-out of birds.
Abattoirs must have a system in place to reduce heat stress in birds caused by extreme weather. Fans and misting systems need to be available, and holding areas need to be designed to take advantage of prevailing winds.
The pick-up of birds from farms, and transportation and slaughter schedules need to be well planned to minimise stress.
Transport crates need to be adequately maintained to prevent injury to the birds, and secure them while travelling.
Only personnel competent in catching and shackling birds should be used. A darkened, purposed-built zone should be considered for this purpose.
Electrical stunning procedures must ensure a consistent level and duration of anaesthesia. The current must be strong enough (at least 100 milliamps) to immediately render the birds unconscious and to keep them so, until it has been killed by bleeding.
If the level of anaesthesia is not achieved, this must be addressed without delay.
In standard commercial practice where broiler chickens or culled hens are stunned in groups in a water bath, a a current of at least 100 milliamps per bird must be maintained for at least 4 seconds.
Each plant should have someone on-hand with technical expertise in electrical stunning so that equipment can be operated at optimum efficiency at all times.
A well-trained person needs to be present at all times to be vigilant and provide physical back-up if stunning or the bleeding-out of birds is deficient. The person must be able to respond quickly to stunning or neck-cutting equipment failure.
Methods and equipment for severing neck vessels should be reviewed to assure rapid bleeding-out times.
Welfare Standards and Abattoir Agreements
AQIS personnel can legally enforce animal welfare standards in works under their control.
NCCAW supports the concept of the legally enforceable Meat Safety Quality Arrangement (MSQA's), entered into between AQIS and abattoir managers.
NCCAW considers that the Australian Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals – Livestock (including Poultry) at Slaughtering Establishments (Abattoirs, Slaughterhouses and Knackeries) should be the minimum animal welfare standard reflected in a company's MSQA.
AQIS has pursued with the meat industry, the development of an Animal Care Statement at each export-registered slaughtering establishment. This requirement has been incorporated into the MSQA where applicable.
Animal Care Statements should address:
- after hours arrival and handling
- handling and care of animals delivered during industrial disputes, and
- the special requirements of animals, particularly unweaned animals, that remain unslaughtered at the start of a dispute.
A monitoring system is required to ensure peak performance of stunning equipment at all times, and that the operator is proficient.
Addendum
The NCCAW Working Group on Abattoirs (Hugh Wirth, Glenys Oogjes, Peter Penson) met on 15 December 1994 to discuss the issue of slaughtering of cattle and sheep without pre-stunning.
The Working Group noted NCCAW's position statement on the welfare of animals at abattoirs, particularly part 3:
As a matter of principle on humane grounds, NCCAW considers that it is unacceptable to slaughter an animal at an abattoir unless it is pre-stunned, and that governments should consult with appropriate community groups to address concerns about such slaughter arrangements.
The Working Group also reviewed the information provided by Dr Isaac Klinger of the Israel Ministry of Agriculture in Melbourne on 22 November 1994. (Drs Wirth and Penson attended Dr Klinger's seminar).
The Working Group reaffirms the view expressed in Item 12 of the September 1994 meeting of NCCAW:
That it is unacceptable to slaughter an animal at an abattoir unless it is pre-stunned. However an exception can be made for Judaic slaughter where post-stunning can be performed immediately after the throat is cut. This will apply to cattle, sheep and goats.
The Working Group was also concerned about an expressed requirement for kosher slaughtering of cattle. NCCAW considered the question of Kosher slaughtering at its meeting on 4-5 April 1995 and agreed:
That on human grounds it is unacceptable to slaughter any animal at an abattoir unless it is pre-stunned. If a decision is made for slaughtering without prior stunning, NCCAW recommends ritual slaughter where post-stunning can be performed immediately after the throat is cut. This will apply to cattle, sheep and goats. In the case of cattle or calves humane head restraint must be in place during the slaughter process and the animal must be standing.
No animal should be shackled before it is irreversibly unconscious.