White Meat Animals
Report on the Welfare of Farmed Animals at Slaughter or Killing Part 2: White Meat Animals May 2009 Farm Animal Welfare Council Area 5A, 9 Millbank, c/o Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR CONTENTS Chairman’s letter to Ministers Executive summary i-iii PART I: IntroDUCTION 1 PART II: BacKGroUND 6 PART III: WELFARE ISSUES Catching and loading on the farm 9 Transport 12 Lairage 14 Handling of animals prior to stunning, including shackling 17 Stunning, slaughter and killing – general requirements 20 Electrical stunning and killing 21 Controlled atmosphere systems 26 Slaughter in abattoirs 31 Slaughter without pre-stunning 32 On-farm slaughter or killing 33 Mass killing for emergency disease control 36 Surplus day-old chicks killed in hatcheries 39 Farmed gamebirds and rabbits 40 Licensing and training 40 Legislation and enforcement 42 Equipment design and approval 43 APPENDIX A MEMBERSHIP OF THE FARM ANIMAL Welfare COUNCIL 45 APPENDIX B THOSE WHO GAVE EVIDENCE AND assistance 46 APPENDIX C GLOSSARY OF TERMS 48 APPENDIX D Contact Details 52 Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, England Richard Lochhead MSP, Cabinet Secretary, Rural Affairs and Environment Department, Scotland Elin Jones AM, Minister, Department for Rural Affairs, Wales May 2009 Dear Secretary of State, Cabinet Secretary and Minister I have pleasure in submitting the Council’s Report on the Welfare of Farmed Animals at Slaughter or Killing Part 2: White Meat Animals. This Report is wide-ranging and considers the welfare of poultry (and other white meat species) in the last few hours of their lives up to the moment of slaughter or killing.
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