Organized by EURCAW-Poultry-SFA.

The webinar was held via Teams.

Target audience: Official inspectors from the Competent Authorities of the EU MSs

Attendance through invitation only.

The PDF of the presentation is available here.

The webinar recording is available here. 

Description:

Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing requires assessing the state of consciousness of the animals in order to identify if the stunning and killing have been effectively done, but it is not an easy assessment.

During this webinar, EURCAW-Poultry-SFA reviewed the most valid, reliable, and feasible indicators to assess the state of consciousness after waterbath stunning (WBS) of broiler chicken, before and after bleeding, giving the opportunity for discussion and doubts resolution.

The aim of the webinar was to:

• Review the most valid and feasible indicators of consciousness after WBS.
• Discuss the main results of the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA study on test inter-observer repeatability of the indicators of consciousness evaluated in commercial slaughterhouses.
• Discuss the impact of electrical key parameters on stunning efficiency.
• Recommend animal-based indicators (ABIs) and their methods of assessment (where and how to do the assessment, during how much time, how to do the sampling), providing video examples.

The webinar was attended by 172 people (251 registered), from 23 EU Member States:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Deutschland, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

Schedule:

10:00-10:10: General presentation of the Centre - V. Michel

10:10-10:20: Indicators of consciousness - A. Velarde

10:20-10:30: Technical study - A. Contreras

10:30-10:45: Methods and recommendations - A. Varvaró and V. Michel

10:45-12:00: Discussion

This webinar has been organized within sub-activity 4.3: Develop course material for specific topics, of the working program 2021-2022.

From the third to the fifth of November 2021, took place the 12th World Rabbit Congress in Nantes (France). This congress consisted of three days of conferences, poster sessions, oral sessions, and round tables on a lot of topics including Ethology and Welfare:

• de Greef K.H., Rommers J.M. - The Dutch route to improve commercial rabbit welfare – rather collectively than by law enforcement.
• Dutra D., Villegas-Cayllahua E., Ferrari F., Costa M., Rein A., Silva A., Moraes P., Borba H. - Cage floor enrichment contributes to physical and thermal comfort of fattening rabbits.
• Fetiveau M., Savietto D., Warin L., Pujol S., Gidenne T., Huang Y., Fortun-Lamothe L.  - Outdoor access for growing rabbits: effect of stocking rate on behaviour and performance.
• Fortun-Lamothe L., Breda J., Savietto D., Aymard P., Combes S., Gidenne T., Warin L., Huang Y.  -   Space use and exploratory behaviour in growing rabbit housed in large partitioned pens.
• Gerencsér Zs., Farkas T.P., Nagy I., Odermatt M., Radnai I., Kasza R , Matics Zs., Szendrő Zs. -  Location preference of rabbit does in a pen system combining group and individual housing.
• Guené-Grand E., Davoust C., Launay C. - A new alternative outdoor housing method (Wellap®) for fattening rabbits: first results.
• Guené-Grand E., Davoust C., Launay C. - A new alternative outdoor housing method (Wellap®) for fattening rabbits: behavior and space use.
• Huang Y., Breda J., Savietto D., Debrusse A., Combes S., Gidenne T., Warin L., Fortun-Lamothe L. -   Part-time grouping of rabbit does in enriched housing: effects on spatial position, performance and lesions.
• Huang Y., Breda J., Savietto D., Labatut D., Pujol S., Combes S., Gidenne T., Warin L., Fortun-Lamothe L.  -   Effect of housing and enrichment on behaviour and performance of growing and reproducing rabbits.
• Laclef E., Savietto D., Warin L., Huang Y., Bonnemère J.M., Combes S., Gidenne T., Fortun-Lamothe L.  -   Part-time group housing of familiar rabbit does in large partitionned space: effects on performance and behaviour.
• Pasqualin D., Zomeño C. Santagiuliana M., Dalla Costa A., Trocino A., Lavazza A., Dorigo F., Bonfanti L., Birolo M., Xiccato G., Menegon F., Di Martino G.  -  A protocol for measuring health and welfare of reproducing does and litters in rabbit farms.
• Ramón-Moragues A.. Martinez-Paredes E.. Villagrá A.  - Differences in milk production and lactation-related behaviours in breeding does housed in individual enriched cages and part-time systems.
• Rödel H.G. - Aspects of social behavior and repoduction in the wild rabbit – implications for rabbit breeding?
• Rommers J., de Greef K.  -   Are plastic mats effective for diminishing footpad lesions of rabbit does? – survey after 10 years in The Netherlands.
• Trocino A., Zomeño C., Birolo M., Pirrone F., Xiccato G.  - Effect of grouping time and group stability on behavior and aggression among rabbit does in a part-time housing system.
• Van Damme L., Delezie E., Tuyttens F. A. M., Maertens L. - Advances in part-time group housing systems for does: an overview of reproductive performances.
• Villegas-Cayllahua E., Dutra D., Cavalcanti E., Fidelis H., Montanhim G., Silva A., Moraes P., Borba H. - Assessment of stress during handling of commercial rabbits.
• Warin L., Mika A., Souchet C., Bouvarel I. - Feasibility and repeatability of the EBENE® welfare assessment measures for rabbits.

All the proceedings are available online: http://world-rabbit-science.com/WRSA-Proceedings/Congress-2021-Nantes/Nantes-2021-01.htm