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EURCAW-POULTRY-SFA'S FIFTH SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE
The Centre is celebrating the publication of its fifth scientific paper as a result of the work carried out in Activity 3 in 2022.
The present study demonstrates that mixtures of carbon dioxide with nitrogen improve a broiler chicken’s welfare during stunning since they result in a more rapid induction of unconsciousness and reduce the aversion experienced, compared to carbon dioxide in two phases, in broiler chickens.
This article named " Alternatives to Carbon Dioxide in Two Phases for the Improvement of Broiler Chickens’ Welfare during Stunning" has been published as part of the Special Issue Animal Stress and Welfare during Transport and Slaughtering, and is available here.
Designation of EURCAW on Aquatic Animals
We look forward to welcoming a new member to the EURCAW family! On 17 January the fourth European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare was designated – this new EURCAW will focus on aquatic species.
EURCAW Aquatic Animals will be led by the University of Crete in Greece, in partnership with the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Parasitology in Czechia and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain.
The designation was published on 19 January in the ‘COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION 2024/266 of 17 January 2024 designating a European Union reference centre for the welfare of aquatic animals in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council’.
The new EURCAW will officially start work on 1 February 2024 and the designation will be reviewed every 7 years from the date of application of the Decision.
The implementing decision is available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202400266&qid=1705652151941
The press release from the European Commission, issued on 15 January 2024: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/sante/items/814529/en
Stunning and killing
For each topic concerned, a dedicated sub-page is available.
Each sub-page will provide reviews, indicators, factsheets, and other production developed by EURCAW-Poultry-SFA.
Stunning and killing for rabbits
This sub-page focuses on priority area 3. Stunning and killing for rabbits.
The stunning method before killing and how to control its efficiency play an important role from an animal welfare point of view. Thus, the main methods used to stun and kill rabbits for human consumption and their main welfare aspects were reviewed along with the key parameters for an effective stunning. In addition, animal-based indicators of the state of consciousness for rabbits were gathered from the literature. This served as a starting point to develop a scientific study in commercial slaughterhouses of rabbits, stunned with electrical devices, to assess the state of consciousness after stunning and to identify the most relevant animal-based indicators of consciousness.
Depopulation methods
This sub-page focuses on priority area 3. Stunning and killing.
The EURCAW-Poultry-SFA initiated in January 2023 an activity aiming at making recommendations on the type of on-farm killing methods to deploy to ensure the most humane and effective depopulation. These recommendations will be tailored to the characteristics of the farm (e.g., housing system) and birds (e.g., species) infected by the disease to ensure their relevance.
Specific objectives have been defined to achieve this overarching goal:
- O1: The inventory of the depopulation methods (O1a) and procedures (O1b) used across the EU since 2018. Here, we use the term procedures to refer to existing variations, on site, in the implementation of a specific method. O1 will allow the Centre to identify the most commonly-used methods in the EU, together with their most common procedures.
- O2: The assessment of the effectiveness and welfare consequences of the most used methods and procedures in multiple depopulation contexts (farm characteristics x birds characteristics). O2 will allow the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA to determine:
- - The most humane and efficient procedure for each method in a specific context (O2a: within-method comparison)
- - In a specific context, the most suitable depopulation method and procedure to be used (O2b: between-methods comparison)
- O3: The suggestion of existing or innovative practical solutions to tackle the welfare issues associated with each method. à O3 will allow the Centre to propose “good-practices” for different depopulation methods, based on the procedures selected as most humane per depopulation context.
Concretely, this work will translate into two deliverables:
- - guidance about the selection of the depopulation procedure according to the specific features of the targeted farm,
- - suggestions for assessment methods of poultry welfare during depopulation procedures.