Welfare of horses during killing for purposes other than slaughter
Horses of different ages may have to be killed on-farm for purposes other thanslaughter (where slaughter is defined as killing for human consumption) either in-dividually (i.e. on-farm killing of unproductive, injured or terminally ill animals) oron a large-scale (i.e. depopulation for disease contr...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) |
| Repositorio: | Docta Complutense |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/118227 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118227 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 636.09:616-091 Animal-based measure Captive bolt Firearm Killing Lethal injection Stunning Horse Sanidad animal 3109 Ciencias Veterinarias |
| Sumario: | Horses of different ages may have to be killed on-farm for purposes other thanslaughter (where slaughter is defined as killing for human consumption) either in-dividually (i.e. on-farm killing of unproductive, injured or terminally ill animals) oron a large-scale (i.e. depopulation for disease control purposes and other situa-tions, such as environmental contamination, disaster management, etc.). The pur-pose of this opinion is to assess the hazards and welfare consequences associatedwith the on-farm killing of horses. The killing procedure is divided into Phase 1(pre-killing), which includes the processes (i) handling and moving the animals tothe killing place and (ii) restraint of the animals before application of the killingmethod; and Phase 2 (stunning and/or killing), which includes stunning and kill-ing of the animals (for methods that require one step for stunning and another forsubsequent killing) or killing only (for methods that simultaneously stun and killthe animals). Three stunning and/or killing methods for Phase 2 for horses wereidentified: (i) penetrative captive bolt followed by killing, (ii) firearms with free pro-jectiles and (iii) lethal injection. Welfare consequences that horses may experienceduring each process (e.g. handling stress, restriction of movement and injuries dur-ing restraint) were identified and potential hazards are listed for all phases, alongwith preventive and corrective measures. Animal-based measures (ABMs) to assessall identified welfare consequences were proposed. During the application of thestunning and/or killing methods, horses will experience pain and fear if they areineffectively stunned/killed or if they recover consciousness. A flowchart includ-ing ABMs for the assessment of consciousness and death to monitor stunning andkilling effectiveness is provided. Additionally, specific practices deemed unaccep-table on welfare grounds are listed |
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