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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.
Third Reflection Board meeting
December 14, 2023, online meeting.
The third Reflection Board meeting between representatives of the Reflection Board (RB) organizations (from the EU Platform on Animal Welfare) and the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, was held remotely via Teams on December, 12th 2023 afternoon.
In total 14 participants, six of them from seven EU platform entities forming the RB, and seven from the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA were connected. One representative from DG SANTE attended as an observer.
This meeting was the occasion to present the Centre’s activities since the last meeting, discuss future possible work topics, and identify possible future collaboration and interests.
The presentations is available here.
The topics discussed can be found in the meeting report here.
Fourth MEETING BETWEEN THE CENTRE AND COMPETENT AUTHORITIES REPRESENTATIVES
October, 24-25, 2023, Virtual
The fourth EU-network meeting between representatives of EU MS Competent Authorities (CAs) and the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, took place virtually on October 24-25, 2023 on 2 *0,5 days. In total 59 participants, from 22 EU MSs participated, including 39 delegates from CAs, 13 from EURCAW-Poultry-SFA, and 7 observers: two DG SANTE unit G5 representatives, three EFSA representatives, and two EFTA representatives.
This meeting was the occasion to present the Centre’s work performed since the last meeting in 2022. Furthermore, it permitted participants to discuss potential future priority areas of work, identify possible collaboration at the national level, and identify the main needs and expectations of CAs.
The presentations are available here.
The report will be available here.
