NEWS AND VIEWS
Welfare and ethics
UPDATE
Virginia Williams, for MPI and the NZVA, provides an update on welfare and ethics.
TAIL DOCKING IN LAMBS A Chilean study comparing 10 tail-docked lambs (docked using hot-iron cautery) with undocked lambs found – unsurprisingly – lower mechanical nociceptive thresholds in the docked lambs (Larrondo et al., 2019). In addition, traumatic neuroma formation was found in two of the docked lambs and neuromatous tissue development in six. This led the authors to conclude that tail docking by hot-iron cautery induces acute and chronic pain in lambs, initially through inflammation and then via longterm hyperalgesia and traumatic neuroma formation, with chronic, negative implications for their animal welfare. This work built on earlier studies proposing that pain from tail docking was likely to continue for some time after pain relief ceased to be effective, and that docked lambs may be more sensitive to pain throughout their lives. REFERENCE: Larrondo C, Bustamante H, Paredes E, Gallo C. Long-term hyperalgesia and traumatic neuroma formation in tail-docked lambs. Animal Welfare 28, 443–54, 2019 doi: 10.7120/09627286.28.4.443
WELFARE AT SLAUGHTER The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has updated its policy on animal welfare at slaughter. The policy states: “Slaughter is the final event in a farm animal’s life. The following principles must be observed if slaughter is to be humane with minimal pain, suffering and distress: » All personnel involved with slaughter must be trained, competent and caring; » Only those animals that are fit should be caught [or penned], loaded and transported to the slaughter site; » Any handling of animals prior
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to slaughter must be done with consideration for the animals’ welfare; » In the slaughter facility only equipment that is fit for the purpose must be used; » Prior to slaughter of an animal, either it must be rendered unconscious and insensible to pain instantaneously or unconsciousness must be induced without pain or distress; » Animals must not recover consciousness [before] death ensues”. In addition, the BVA has developed 67 recommendations to build on these principles and improve welfare at slaughter. The new policy was
announced ahead of an upcoming Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs review of England’s Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing regulations. The NZVA does not have specific policies for welfare at slaughter, but the Code of Welfare for Commercial Slaughter has detailed requirements to ensure the welfare of animals at slaughter plants. The updated BVA policy can be found at www.bva.co.uk/media/3665/ executive-summary-bva-positionon-the-welfare-of-animals-atslaughter.pdf.
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