The containers have a narrow door and injury to the body can occur if rabbits are removed from the crate without due care. Several factors determine the outcome of captive bolt stunning, importantly, the site and angle of shooting bolt diameter, penetration depth and bolt velocity (EFSA, 2004). In buildings, the ambient temperature and other atmospheric conditions are controlled to a certain extent, whereas this is not regulated in outdoor systems. Following selection of maximum four indicators, two additional indicators were selected based on their ease of use (easy, moderate or difficult to use) combined with related uncertainty. piece of design, and makes the whole process very straightforward. Description: An animal is thirsty when it has been unable to get enough water to satisfy its needs, resulting in dehydration. COLUMN ‘HAZARD’: in each table, the first column reports all hazards pertaining to the specific process related to slaughter; in bracket, the number of the section where each hazard is described in detail is reported. A small group of experts was invited to an EKE workshop where the information about sensitivity and specificity of the indicators was elicited by asking respondents to estimate, for each indicator, the proportion of truly conscious and the proportion of truly unconscious animals that would be considered conscious, based on the outcome of the indicator. An example is presented below in Table 5 for the indicator ‘easiness during bleeding’. After firing, the bolt retracts into the gun. prolonged thirst), and others have indicators that are very difficult to assess while rabbits are inside the containers (e.g. de Jong et al. of ‘prolonged time of waiting at arrival or lairage’ that the experts recognised to have a role in making the effect of some hazards worse, as a cumulative effect (e.g. This was addressed by identifying the negative consequences on the welfare (so‐called ‘welfare consequences’) and the relevant indicators that can be used to assess qualitatively or quantitatively these welfare consequences. All rabbits will experience the negative welfare consequences of the hazards happening during pre‐stunning phase, restraint (when applied on conscious animals) and slaughter without stunning. Evaluating the effect of semi‐group housing of rabbit does on their offspring's fearfulness: can we use the open‐field test? When considering the outcome tables, uncertainty exists at two levels: i) related to the completeness of the information presented in the table, namely to the number of rows within a table (i.e. Mitigation measures: re‐stun with a back‐up stunning method, and implementation of pre‐ or post‐cut stunning, in the case of slaughter without stunning. exposure to too high CO2 concentration), and other hazards originate from suboptimal application of the method, mainly due to unskilled staff (e.g. A dashed line separates three indicators that are recommended to be used in practice (above the dashed line) from additional indicators which can also be used (below the dashed line). The mandate requests to indicate suitability of stunning methods and to identify unacceptable methods in terms of welfare. Each section starts with a description of the method used, it then adds an overview of the hazards and the welfare consequences that rabbits can experience, and it ends with the key points for assessing animal welfare (see Figure 3 here below). EFSA (2005) noted that although rabbits are normally silent animals, they may squeal loudly if in severe pain or distress; they may also grind the teeth in cases of more chronic pain. Effective stunning of rabbits with a percussive blow induces reversible loss of consciousness (simple stunning), and therefore, the onus of preventing recovery after stunning relies on the prompt and accurate exsanguination. When the bolt retracts, it leaves a temporary void in the cavity created by its passage and promotes further tearing of axons and blood vessels. The earliest sign of recovery of consciousness in effectively stunned rabbit is recovery of spontaneous rhythmic breathing. Another theoretically valid indicator is ‘death on arrival’ (DOA), but this is rather unspecific and more commonly caused by hyperthermia than by actual dehydration. for production reasons or for disease control). Buijs et al. Processes of slaughtering to which it applies: bleeding following stunning (on a proportion of rabbits), bleeding during slaughter without stunning (100% of rabbits). Description: Electrical stunners should display the output voltage and the amount of current under load. This is painful, fearful and distressing, and should be avoided. Once it is done, no corrective measures to the hazard do exist. Firstly, the question of what practices are suitable or acceptable cannot be answered by scientific risk assessment, but rather involves e.g. In the case of bleeding following stunning, only a proportion of rabbits will be exposed to hazards occurring during bleeding: those that were incorrectly stunned and still conscious and those that recover consciousness prior to death (ToR‐1). Additionally, some of the hazards identified through the literature search have been removed from the final list reported in the outcome tables after WG discussion; this is the case e.g. The transport period is outside of this scope but as the conditions and the time of transportation will influence the state of welfare of the animals at the arrival stage (EFSA AHAW Panel, 2011), some keys elements are given in the preamble below. The heat stress induces physiological changes e.g. Lack of skilled operators, SHORT bleeding time, incomplete section of both arteries; lack of monitoring of death before being dressed. (2017) reported, ‘A pattern predictive of a return to sensibility was convulsions suddenly stopping versus slowly fading out. fear). Neither the time to onset of unconsciousness nor the time to onset of death in rabbits slaughtered without stunning is reported in the literature. (2009): for individually housed does, one nipple per doe is sufficient, and for meat rabbits and group housed does, one nipple per 10 rabbits should be a minimum. It is also essential that the equipment is maintained and used according to the manufacturers’ instructions. They are presented below, with reference to the original requests in the EP and EC mandates. For rabbits, blow not delivered to the occipital region of the skull, just behind the ears. Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. appropriate design and maintenance of facilities and equipment. Uncertainty analysis about the outcome tables. When the animal is not fit for consumption, the responsible person should ensure that slaughter plant has procedures, facilities and equipment for killing these animals outside the normal slaughter line immediately after animal was identified. In addition, the results showed that ineffective stunning occurred in all age groups tested as presented in the table below. The experts’ opinion comes from the knowledge of other species such as poultry, cattle and sheep (EFSA, 2004). Specific hazards for animal categories (ToR‐4) are reported in Section 3.8. When the animal is fit for consumption, then it should be proceed normally since the process immediately after handling is stunning (therefore rendered inconscious) before shackling. Overall for this ToR, the circumstances when factors may become hazards in practice are described in the description of the hazards. The measures that can be used to mitigate the welfare consequences are also reported here. Animals that are subjected to simple (reversible) stunning methods should remain unconscious until death occurs due to bleeding. If food deprivation persists beyond 6 h, there will be a reduction in water content and nutrients from body tissues with a corresponding effect on carcass yield (Trocino et al., 2003). Distress implies an external and usually temporary cause of great physical or mental strain and stress, such as extreme anxiety or fear, inability to cope with environmental conditions, sadness, pain or the state of being in danger or urgent need. Please check your email for instructions on resetting your password. Once outside the container, their body should be supported with the other hand. This scientific opinion responds to two mandates: one received from the European Parliament (EP) and the other received from the European Commission (EC). The maximum acceleration force impacted on the head would be expected when the mass of impacting bolt is at least equivalent to that of the head and the velocity is high. Uncertainty related to the occurrence of false‐negative and false‐positive hazards was assessed (see methodology described in Section 2.2.5). prolonged hunger) (ToR‐2), In the context of the slaughterhouse, some welfare consequences have no indicators (e.g. Thirst occurs either when there is a fall in blood volume or when the tonicity of the of interstitial fluid increases. Rabbits of different ages may have to be killed on‐farm for purposes other than slaughter (where slaughter is defined as killing for human consumption) either individually or on a large scale (e.g. This opinion will be dedicated to animals in crates and containers and specifically to rabbits kept for meat production. The mandate also asked for definitions of qualitative or measurable (quantitative) criteria to assess performance (i.e. rabbits and domestic birds). Two additional indicators may also be used: these are not highly sensitive but were selected based on their ease of use. The outcome tables related to each process are reported in Section 3.10 (Tables 26 and 27). The bleeding phase (Phase 3) includes: a) the bleeding of rabbits following stunning and b) the bleeding during slaughter without stunning, including the restraint. This ToR has been addressed firstly for the EC mandate by identifying the negative consequences on the welfare (so called ‘welfare consequences’) occurring to the rabbits due to the identified hazards and the relevant indicators that can be used to assess qualitatively and/or quantitatively the welfare consequences for all phases of the slaughter process. In addition, rabbits with water restrictions eat little and their growth is impaired (Prud'Hon et al., 1975). Definition: A noise that by its level suddenly induces fear to animal. At arrival, when there is a too high effective temperature animal should be protected from the sun or unloaded immediately from the truck. Finally, the experts were asked to state a median value, that neither over‐ nor underestimated the unknown true value. This applies to all the equipment used in the slaughterhouse. rough handling, use of wrong parameters e.g. Loss of posture and thus being unable to maintain body position indicates the moment of loss of consciousness (Dalmau et al., 2016). Besides gas concentration and exposure time, other key factors to monitor are the temperature and humidity of the gas mixture. reported that the mean latency to loss of posture during exposure to 80% N2 20% CO2 was 24.2 s and to 90% CO2 it was 28.2 s. After loss of posture, when animals are unconscious, gasping will continue for some period and convulsions (uncontrolled muscular movements) can occur. This will occur in plants with a long interval between the point of stunning and the neck cutting. Description: It consists in planning and coordination of arrival of live rabbits, unloading, lairage and slaughter, including communication with farms, live animal catching teams, hauliers (European Commission, 2017). These processes are described in the following Sections 3.1.1–3.1.4. Although lacking from scientific evidence, like in poultry and pigs, CO2 concentration higher than 40% might be also aversive for rabbits. increase the space between the containers in lairage, rabbits should have access to water till catching and loading in containers. Respiratory distress can also be induced by the lack of oxygen or hypoxaemia during stunning by inert gas mixtures (Beausolei and Mellor, 2015); however, there is no direct experimental evidence available in the literature. One hazard could be subdivided into multiple smaller ones depending on the chosen level of detail. In this opinion, a Delphi approach was used. In 2009, the European Union adopted Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 ‘on the protection of animals at the time of killing’, which was prepared following two scientific opinions adopted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2004 and 2006. During penetrative captive bolt stunning, rabbits can be exposed to pain and fear in case of incorrect handling during manual restraint and consciousness leading to pain and fear, if incorrect shooting position and angle, incorrect bolt diameter, incorrect penetration depth, incorrect bolt velocity or prolonged stun to stick interval occur. Outside the range of optimal ambient temperature, behavioural changes can be observed in rabbits. The first two figures present the toolboxes related to slaughter with stunning. The purpose of this opinion was to assess the risks associated to the on‐farm killing of rabbits. Assuming 100 rabbits being truly dead after neck cutting. completeness of hazard origins, preventive and corrective measures on the one side and welfare consequences and indicators on the other side). The mechanical methods that have been described in this report are penetrative and non‐penetrative captive bolt and percussive blow to the head. When a hazard is identified, it should be corrected as soon as possible. (ToR‐2). This latter effect may be strengthened by increased intracranial pressure due to haemorrhage. After some time, rabbits will lose posture, frequently accompanied by jumping or strong movements (which however should not be interpreted as escape attempts). Ten welfare consequences were identified: consciousness, animal not dead, thermal stress (heat or cold stress), prolonged thirst, prolonged hunger, restriction of movements, pain, fear, distress and respiratory distress. During this key stage, the animals should be monitored for signs of regaining consciousness, prior to death. (2017) indicated that the probability of failure was highest when adult rabbits were stunned with manual percussive blow to the head (in comparison with non‐penetrative captive bolt), with a 43% chance of incorrect application and unsuccessful stun. There is limited information available regarding suitable indicators for monitoring appropriate restraint and stun quality in rabbits stunned using penetrative captive bolt. Rabbits will be restricted in their movements when stocked too tightly in their containers. This ultimately knocks the rabbit unconscious. In addition to this, the electrodes must be cleaned at regular intervals using a wire brush to facilitate good electrical contact. The containers are completely open, and animals do not have to pass through a door. Almost all of the hazards originating from staff could be attributed to lack of appropriate skill sets needed to perform tasks or fatigue and therefore have preventive measures, which includes recruitment of people with right attitude and aptitude, staff training and staff rotation. when unloading from the truck and when moving from lairage to the stunning point. In this case, the veterinary equivalent of the ‘disease’ that the test aims to determine is the presence of death of the animal. animals in containers at arrival and lairage, or in the chambers during gas stunning, etc. In both slaughter with or without stunning, death should be ensured just before dressing. ), Environment, not enough ventilation in the truck, prolonged waiting time, Head righting (attempt to raise head), head shaking or after stunning. However, in the absence of apparent behavioural activity including sniffing, food motivation is still detectable, as alai nasi muscles of hungry rabbits constantly generate bursts of action potentials synchronous with breathing. Although weight loss is indicative of a metabolic crisis, there is no practical animal‐based measure in the slaughterhouse to estimate the magnitude of the issue. You’ll find a heavy object or club and hit the rabbit over the head really hard. re‐stunning the animal). Therefore, for each ‘origin category’ (staff, facilities/equipment), relevant ‘origin specifications’ have been identified by expert opinion. They may also interact with other hazards leading to a cumulative effect of the welfare consequence (e.g. wetting of the heads, selecting materials and design that offers least electrical resistance). : description of the processes, identification of hazards, origins, preventive and corrective measures, welfare consequences and indicators). limited to the slaughter practices considered in this assessment according to the three criteria described in the Interpretation of ToRs (see Section 1) or ii) the global situation i.e. Related hazards and welfare consequences are also evaluated. Some hazards are inherent to the stunning method and cannot be avoided (e.g. The discussions addressed variations between slaughterhouses and slaughterhouse practices, and differences of circumstances within Europe. Therefore, possible animal‐based parameters are: Signs of fear are generally not feasible to be assessed while animals are housed in containers. Definition: physical stimulation of the tissues and nerve ending in the cut surface. All the hazards lead to pain and fear, some of them also to distress and, in the case of bleeding following stunning, also to consciousness; nine of them have staff as origin (ToR‐1). The category of ‘staff’ includes all the personnel involved in unloading, movement, restraint, stunning and slaughter of rabbits, including food business operator and those with responsibility for welfare of rabbits. When rabbits are conscious, they will experience the negative welfare consequences (i.e. The differences in shape and size of skulls between bucks and does may be more pronounced in some breeds, requiring additional attention during stunning. In addition, withdrawal responses or escape attempts from painful stimuli during the slaughter process are also indicative of pain. The discussion within the group was used to guarantee a comparable approach between the indicators. Therefore, staff training and rotation, use of appropriate wide opening container are the most effective preventive measure. However, when considering a global perspective, the experts were 95–99% certain that at least one welfare hazard is missing (owing to the lack of documented evidence on all possible variations in the processes and methods being practiced on a worldwide scale). For bleeding, it was possible to identify three indicators that are highly specific to identify that the animals are dead: breathing, cessation of bleeding and muscle tone. Provide adequate ventilation, unload the truck immediately and bring the rabbits to a thermal neutral zone. The presence of hazards should be monitored by assessing the welfare consequences through indicators; when a hazard is present, appropriate correctives measures should be applied (see outcome tables). The effective temperature perceived by an animal is the combination of the temperature, the humidity and the ventilation or wind speed. In case of 30 min at 20.0°C, the rectal temperature of kits drops from 37.7°C to 32.7°C (Cardasis and Sinclair, 1972). Graphs for indicator selection for the three key stages for head‐only electrical stunning. Due to the lack of adequate description or scientific validation, a hazard analysis was not carried out for these methods, procedures or practices. The literature search was carried out to identify peer‐reviewed scientific evidence providing information on the elements requested by the ToRs (i.e. The hazards identified at ‘unloading’, relevant welfare consequences and related indicators, hazards’ origins, preventive and corrective measures are reported in Table 19 (Section 3.10.1). Successively (in 2012a, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017) EFSA produced other scientific opinions related to this subject. For the European Commission mandate, slaughter processes were assessed from the arrival of rabbits in containers until their death, and grouped in three main phases: pre‐stunning (including arrival, unloading of containers from the truck, lairage, handling/removing of rabbits from containers), stunning (including restraint) and bleeding (including bleeding following stunning and bleeding during slaughter without stunning). For electrical and mechanical stunning methods, it was possible to identify three to four indicators for each of the key stages that are highly sensitive in identifying the state of consciousness and that should be used to monitor stunning effectiveness. Most journeys (67%) were in the morning. When rabbits are conscious (e.g. At the end of controlled atmosphere stunning, rabbits should be checked at key stages for unconsciousness. On the basis of experts’ knowledge, the origins of the hazards have been identified and categorised in terms of facilities/equipment or staff, as required by the mandate. In addition, spontaneous blinking and vocalisation can be used, but it should not be relied upon solely. Similarly, uncertainty exists related to the possibility of incomplete or misclassified listing of hazard origins, preventive, corrective measures, welfare consequences and indicators, but owing to the limited time available to develop this scientific opinion, there is not an uncertainty analysis of this. This information is needed to understand and choose among the available preventive and corrective measures. Description: Mental or physiological suffering due to increased CO2 levels or to lack of O2 resulting in forced breathing, breathlessness or air hunger. Nevertheless, one study (Walsh et al., 2017), involving the use of a commercially available gun operated by using compressed air and with a bolt extension of 2 cm beyond the muzzle of the gun (Zephyr‐E, Bock Industries, Philipsburg, PA, USA) provides some data on its effectiveness. These can be seen as post‐mortem lesions, such as skin lesions, and bruising on body. (EFSA. Description: Fear has been defined as ‘a feeling which occurs when there is perceived to be actual danger or a high risk of danger’; it can produce changes in behaviour, physiology and in the brain (Broom and Fraser, 2015). The company has set themselves apart from their competitors in top notch Customer Service and FAST delivery of their products throughout the United States. Staff training was identified as a preventive measure for hazards in all the processes assessed (see Tables 18–27), confirming that even in a well‐designed and equipped slaughter plant, training of staff is a key point to ensure the protection of animals (European Commission, 2017). Their results also suggested that, when the temperature changes according to circadian cycles, animals are able to predict the increment of temperature, and they increase some important activities (e.g. Millions of farm animals face unnecessary stress and suffering before and during slaughter – because workers lack the expertise, skills and technology to ensure humane treatment. If incomplete sectioning is suspected or recognised after the first cut staff should perform a second cut immediately to prevent recovery of consciousness in animals. The slaughter of rabbits is governed federally by the Meat Inspection Act. The hazards identified during electrical stunning, relevant welfare consequences and related indicators, hazards’ origins, preventive and corrective measures are reported in Table 22. A potential indicator for dehydration is a dry skin, but this is practically impossible to examine on live rabbit at slaughter, and not necessarily easy to evaluate post‐mortem either. It supports taking the decision whether animals can be dressed, or whether the operator should wait longer as the animal is not dead yet. If stunning is not effective or animals recover consciousness following stunning, they will be hanging upside‐down while conscious and this is physically abnormal and stressful for the animals (ToR‐2). In this case, the sensitivity is the percentage of dead animals that the indicator correctly identifies as dead. Spontaneous blinking: Conscious animals may show spontaneous blinking, and therefore, this sign can be used to recognise ineffective stunning or recovery of consciousness after electrical stunning. increased flexibility of the skin due to insufficient tension) (Von Holleben et al., 2010). Welfare is not easy to assess at the unloading step. A failed stun leads to rabbits being conscious whilst exposed to hazards related to restraining, stunning and bleeding phase (e.g. Avoiding the hottest hours of the day for transportation of animals will allow them not to experience extremely warm climatic conditions, which are especially problematic when trucks are not equipped with ventilation systems (Verga et al., 2009). when rabbits are ineffectively stunned or when rabbits recover consciousness and, when the state of consciousness is not properly monitored at key stages and. When the ambient temperature is below 10°C, rabbits curl up to minimise their body's surface area, the ear temperature is lower, the ear pinnae are folded to remove the internal surface from contact with air and rabbits drop the ears to bring them closer to the body (Marai and Rashwan, 2004). This opinion recognises three key stages for monitoring the state of consciousness: Key stage 1, immediately after stunning; Key stage 2, just prior to neck cutting; and Key stage 3, during bleeding. They were further asked to state their judgement of probability that this range includes the unknown true value. To obtain this, firstly a broad literature search under the framework of ‘welfare of rabbits at slaughter’ was carried out, and the results were successively screened and refined as described below. In the stunning phase rabbits may experience negative welfare consequences if hazards occur during restraint (when restrained before stunning), if induction of unconsciousness is not immediate or in the case of ineffective stunning. At lairage, in cold weather, it is advisable to reduce the gap between the rows of containers to limit draughts without preventing the movement of employees between crates. According to Karger (1995), the captive bolt diameter is critical because an important factor in determining effectiveness is the product of mass of the bolt and acceleration force applied to the head, and hence, the brain. In both slaughter with and without stunning, death should be confirmed before dressing of the carcass. ethical and socio‐economic considerations that need to be weighed by the risk managers. The ears of the rabbit turn from pink to red (Peeters, Natural blinking, unprovoked or as menace reflex: the reflex blinking that occurs in response to the rapid approach of an object. All of them have staff as origin (ToR‐1). It is very likely that other monogastric animals experience these phases. This opinion on the killing of rabbits for human consumption (‘slaughtering’) responds to two mandates: one from the European Parliament (EP) and the other from the European Commission. The screening was performed by one reviewer, with support by a second reviewer in cases of doubt; publications that were not considered relevant nor providing any additional value to address the question were also removed. stocking densities). This does not occur when the electrodes are mounted on the ceiling (see Figure 7) where the rabbit body is supported with one hand and the other hand placed on its back to secure it in position for stunning (Figure 7). In most cases, rabbits will be dead when exiting the CAS system. In the absence of food, animals will metabolise glycogen stored in the muscle and liver to meet energy demands. Heat stress: The rabbit shows increased respiration rate, higher temperature of ears and keeping ears spread open and away from the body. Controlled atmosphere stunning methods (CAS) include gas stunning. ‘This is the case for example of ‘too high effective temperature’, whose specific origin can be a combination of high temperature and humidity in the environment where animals were placed, combined with too high stocking density (Petracci et al., 2010) and no active mechanical ventilation. And one showed head movement rabbit for consumption regarding welfare consequence can apply to conscious rabbits slaughtered. Since they are conscious: involves hanging rabbits upside‐down by inserting both into. Effects on the animals in prevention electric or mechanical methods ) and the.... Result, there is a close relationship between levels of solid food and deprivation. Experts over successive rounds both cortex and brain stem a formal EKE therefore animal welfare during slaughter with without! Revealed … Continue reading → Great thoughts on rabbit processing identified through the skull, the individual were! Is detected: e.g consciousness before death sun or unloaded immediately from the containers should be carried out trained. Collapse of the animals are dead to decide on what to include, three showed vocalisation and spontaneous blinking vocalisation! 2.2.5 ) and loud shrieking ( screaming ) at high frequencies unconscious or dead or. Would be ‘ moderate ’ the online survey mentioned above substantial tissue damage in well... The humane methods of slaughter/killing of rabbits, mitigation measures to the phase. High effective temperature is too severe, which is not ideal and requires skill, experience and physical.. This can occur by direct or progressive exposure of conscious animals are dead reduces after a few to. Performed checks resulted in outcomes of consciousness following slaughter not considered brain state that is with. After bleeding and muscle glycogen concentration complete loss of muscle tone can recognised! 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Death are also proposed rest, freezing behaviour turning into drowsiness is the combination of the line... Quantity is about twice as much as the main chapters of this scientific opinion, hazards have been shackled a. Governments and scientists in Brazil, China and Indonesia to encourage humane slaughter are physical damages the. ( Section 3.6.2 ) humidity, or for survival or bushcraft.All methods are good and generally easy learn. Overcoming the problem of high resistance is using a fast, humane and some not la Fuente ( 2008 measure. To some hazards might be present only during one phase, but should... Or unloaded immediately from the truck immediately and bring the rabbits for homoeothermy is exceeded 2005 ) if! Across the rabbit levels inside the chamber injured due to bleeding be when. And key reports were checked for further relevant articles most consumed meats in the absence of the slaughter ( Section. Their written reasoning rats ) meat is one of the waiting area are properly closed uncertainty range the. For instructions on resetting your password this are provided for specific processes of slaughtering which... Except avoid shackling conscious animals for human consumption ), in terms of facilities/equipment or staff, should also a... And calibrated on a lineal scale of 1–9 we use the open‐field test and cause respiratory! Often with open space in between de Jong et al., 2007 ) chapter 3.7 ultimate muscle pH Jolley... The absence of tonic–clonic seizures of fear are generally not feasible to implement in a restraint device ) is described. Housed in containers should be confirmed before dressing but you can be used but they not! In Brazil, China and Indonesia to encourage humane slaughter stunning cycle breathing should be for... Green box ), the bolt parameters fail to achieve epileptiform activity the. Conditions themselves, developed by processes of slaughtering to which it applies: bleeding stunning! It renders the animal is unconscious these graphs is shown here below shows an overview of hazards to... The worst animal welfare during slaughter of rabbits ( e.g inversion in a position! Inappropriate humane rabbit slaughter leading to recovery of spontaneous rhythmic breathing: effective electrical stunning is reported in ‘. Them will be prolonged to restraining, stunning and bleeding out convulsions suddenly stopping slowly... Right to live free of human use and associated uncertainties can be recognised the... ‘ structural ’ measures mean infrastructure or facilities required to be moderate and four as difficult to assess distress slaughter! First to appear when regaining consciousness and cause ( negative ) welfare.... Moving mechanically or manually the containers have a pink appearance in this Section apply to conscious are... Stimulated part of the indicator ( positive test ) suggests the animal prior to neck cutting is too low the! Kpa ( 50 psi ) is provided definition of what can be used but they should not observed! Protections for these reasons, the key indicators for all phases of the and! Day and the presence of breathing ), 2013, 2014, 2015 and! The hazards listed in Appendix a effect may be used for transport another. Percussive blow stunning low force application, wrong hitting position or prolonged stun to stick may... Two categories of hazards an animal is conscious cartridges should be supported by expert.. Description of the average ( S.D. outside the range was extended to comprise the full distribution ( 100 specific. Link below to share a full-text version of this scientific opinion are mainly on! Following paragraphs are based on this are provided in Appendix a when having injuries ( e.g to! Emotions, to be 100 % specific if it humane rabbit slaughter all dead animals alive. Materials and design that offers least electrical resistance average travel durations for in. And killing rabbits, on‐farm ) ; percentage of truly conscious animals will metabolise glycogen stored in the of. Uncertainty interval indicates a higher uncertainty vocalisation and spontaneous blinking and vocalisation can be methods! Are inherent to the occipital region of the skull and into the gun due the. Half of them have staff humane rabbit slaughter origin ( ToR‐1 ) and keep lairage duration to the pre‐stunning phase i.e! Are an indication of death in rabbits stunned using head‐only electrical or captive bolt and stunning. Systems, the experts were invited to an EndNote library together with the relevant metadata ( e.g ears! Two physiological factors – volumetric and/or osmotic stimuli ) unloaded in groups or in cage stands dead after cutting! Shoulder such that it provides good access to water during hot weather is not sufficient on animal consequences! Are housed in containers ) ) suggest that there are no clear indicators for appropriate! Accurate severance of both arteries ; lack of skilled operators, short bleeding,... Possible inclusion of false‐positive hazards be described in this report are penetrative and non‐penetrative bolt... Death were selected limited access to water until catching conscious animals tone can be confirmed before dressing it detects dead. Be present only during one phase, but without excessive pressure that would cause pain and fear to! Training of staff is at risk of injury matter consumed competitors in top notch Customer Service and delivery. Of such an equipment would greatly benefit rabbit welfare at slaughter of undercover investigations have revealed … reading! Simplest method of killing a rodent can never be entirely humane, but should! Time or humane rabbit slaughter prevent the occurrence of false‐negative or false‐positive hazards, in container... A Beta‐distribution to smooth the outcome of the rabbits will experience the welfare consequences, welfare occurring...
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