Associations between Pre-Slaughter and Post-Slaughter Indicators of Animal Welfare in Cull Cows

The objective of this study was to evaluate the welfare of cull cows in a slaughtering plant, using indicators of health on arrival and indicators of handling during the stunning process. These pre-slaughter indicators were associated with post-slaughter indicators of the same cows, such as carcass bruising and condemnations. Transport staff surveys showed that all drivers had been trained on animal welfare. All loads of cows came directly from farms and had an average transport duration of 5 h 22 min. Indicators were registered in 237 cows during unloading at the slaughterhouse and in the stunning box. Bruises and condemnations were recorded post-slaughter in the carcasses of the same cows. Results at arrival showed that 48% of the cows had low body condition, 50% had mammary problems, and 24% suffered from lameness. During stunning, 16% of cows needed a second shot, and 54% exceeded the 60 s established as a recommended interval between stunning and bleeding. During the post-slaughter evaluation, 50% of the carcasses had more than two bruises and 70.46% had a bruise severity score different from zero. Low body condition was a risk factor to increase the severity of bruises; low body condition and mammary problems increased carcass condemnations; the stunning process indicators were not statistically associated with the severity of the bruises. For cull cows the main animal welfare issue originates at farm level.

The Management of Negotiation Process on the Animal Welfare Dispute in the Bandung Zoo

The management of conflict and negotiation play an important role in solving a dispute. Both actions are not simple tasks in resolving conflicts since different points of view usually involve. This is what happened in the dispute of animal welfare issue between the Bandung Zoo and Scorpion Wildlife Foundation. The dispute that becomes the focus of this article relates to the accusation raised by Scorpion Wildlife towards the Bandung Zoo in terms of animal welfare abandonment. The conflict between the two organizations has increased because the Bandung Zoo did not accept the allegations and intended to bring Scorpion to a legal court under the reason of defamation. This article looks at the utilization of the management of conflict and negotiation to resolve this conflict, being done by the Agency of Natural Resources of West Java as the facilitator. The study used constructivist case study methods in order to chronologically construct the conflict as well as the use of negotiation. The results show that the facilitator has performed its dominance in the negotiation process, while the conflicted parties were still not having an agreement to resolve the problem. This condition has potential to invalidate at any time if the resolution is not completely reached.

The sex ratio of a gilt’s birth litter can affect her fitness as a breeding female

Lifetime reproductive performance and behaviour are established in utero driven by genetics and the steroidal milieu of the uterine environment. Developing males synthesise androgens that can be absorbed by females in the litter. Consequently, the proportion of males in a litter has the potential to affect both lifetime reproductive performance and behaviour of female littermates. Although reproductive potential is understandably important for gilt selection, behaviour is becoming progressively more important as group housing of sows increases. Aggression can be a cause for removal from the breeding herd, and can also negatively affect reproductive performance and herd longevity. This review covers existing evidence of masculinisation in rodents and sheep, the mechanism causing masculinisation, and the knowledge gaps surrounding masculinisation in pigs. Premature culling of gilts is an economic and animal welfare issue in the pork industry resulting in low retention of gilts and reduced productivity. The selection of gilts needs to be improved to incorporate both lifetime reproductive potential and behaviour. We determined that there is cause to investigate the effect of the birth litter sex ratio of a gilt on her suitability for selection into the breeding herd.

Keeping it ‘inside the fence’: an examination of responses to a farm-animal welfare issue on Twitter

Social media sites have become common sources of information about current affairs, and animal-activist organisations, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), use these networks as campaign tools to raise awareness against animal agriculture. The aim of the present study was to understand how an animal-welfare issue was discussed in Twitter, in Australia. Twitter Application Programing Interface data featuring keywords and hashtags were initially collected between April and May 2014 to examine tweets on animal-welfare issues in the absence of a triggering event. In July 2014, PETA released footage portraying ill-treatment of sheep in Australian shearing sheds, generating 9610 tweets in 7 days, including themes such as disgust, condemnation of the cruelty, and calls to boycott the wool industry. PETA’s social-media campaign began 24 h before comment in conventional news media online, highlighting the role of social media in leading conventional media campaigning. Associated Twitter activity from the wool industry was limited. It is concluded that Twitter is not currently an effective medium for conversations between producers and the community about farm-animal welfare, despite encouragement from industry. While there are positives for producers and industry to be on Twitter, including the promotion of their business and communication within their micro-publics, Twitter as a platform may not be ideal for generating a dialogue between producers and the community. Further research into how people engage with the content, not just through the study of retweets and amount of traffic, is required to understand whether social media has potential to change attitudes towards animal production.