The World Animal Health Association (WOAH) has published the latest guidelines on “Animal Welfare During Slaughter.” It is in Chapter 7.5 of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code. This is an international guideline that many different countries have agreed on. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) had input into developing this guideline. The new guideline has a much greater emphasis on animal-based outcome measures compared to the previous guideline. This emphasis on outcome-based guidelines would be similar to The Meat Institute Guidelines in the United States. People who shackle and bleed animals should be skilled in assessing “recovery of consciousness.” The guidelines emphasize prompt unloading and providing drinking water.
Animal handling outcome-based measures for cattle, pigs, sheep and goats:
- Slipping and falling during handling
- Animals with broken or injured limbs
- Turning back or reluctant to move during handling
- Vocalization during handling
- Animals unable to move
- Animals collide with facility structure
- Force by personnel (not well defined)
- Use of electric prods
Animal-based measures not related to handling:
- Thermal stress (panting, sweating, shivering, huddling)
- Space allowance in the lairage
- Excessive soiling with feces (coat cleanliness, fleece cleanliness for sheep)
- Lameness, open wounds, fractures
- Aggressive behavior (mounting, fighting)
- Carcass bruises
The part of the WOAH guidelines that are very clear are on “Practices for handling or restraining conscious animals that are unacceptable and should not be used under any circumstances”:
- Breaking tails
- Hitting animals with large sticks and other prohibited objects
- Kicking, throwing or dropping animals
- Grasping, lifting or dragging animals by body parts, such as tail, head, horns, ears, wool, limbs or hair
- Dragging animals by any body part
- Forcing animals to walk over other animals
- Interfering with any sensitive areas such as eye, mouth, ears, anogenital region, udder or belly
- Mechanical leg clamping, tying limbs together or lifting by one or more limbs off the ground for restraint
- Suspending or hoisting conscious livestock by the feet or legs
- Trip floor boxes designed to make animals fall
- Forcing animals to lie down by handlers jumping on them or lying across the animals back
In a well-managed slaughter plant, none of the above should ever occur. Recently I have been in two fed beef plants with excellent handling and there were no vocalizations and the handlers never yelled or whistled.
