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Animal Welfare at slaughter and killing for disease control

Unit 5 – Bleeding practices and killing for depopulation
purposes

Dear colleagues, we are approaching the conclusion of this basic course on the application of the EC
Regulation 1099/2009.
In this unit we will describe the techniques adopted at slaughterhouse to kill animals for slaughtering
purposes. Killing of animals for slaughter is usually achieved by bleeding after neck cutting or chest-sticking.
Even though the sites for cutting and sticking may vary between species, in all cases the aim of bleeding is to
sever the major blood vessels, causing death through lack of blood supply to the brain.
You will also learn how to ascertain thef clinical signs of death.
Last but not least,an overview of planning and techniques for killing animals for depopulation purposes, will
follow.
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This unit deals with bleeding and sticking for the main animal species.
The learning objectives are:
• to know bleeding requirements for each animal species and
• sticking procedures for the main animal species

Pop-up <stunning>
In the case of animals subject to particular methods of slaughter prescribed by religious rites, bleeding is
obtained via neck cutting without stunning, according with EC Regulation 1099/2009, art. 4(4).
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Pop-up <Regulations>

EC Regulation 1099/2009, Annex IV

(f) the bleeding of live animals;
Subjects for examination of competence: monitoring the effectiveness of stunning and the absence of signs
of life; back-up stunning and/or killing methods; appropriate use and maintenance of bleeding knives.
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Halal slaughter is performed by an ordinary slaughter knife of varying length and can be either similar to
Shechita cut or by retrograde cut (gash stick) applying a stab followed by incision, severing the tissues.
Animals of bovine, ovine and caprine species (national rules permitting) may be slaughtered with this
procedure.
Ruminants slaughtered without stunning should be individually and mechanically restrained for effective
bleeding (Art. 15).
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More info <Importance of chest sticking in cattle>

During neck cutting of cattle, where the common carotid arteries are cut in the region of the throat, the
vertebral arteries which are protected within the foraminae of the cervical vertebrae will continue to supply
oxygenated blood to the forebrain via the vertebraloccipital anastomosis.
In addition, the cutting of the carotid arteries in the neck of cattle could lead to the elastic recoiling of vascular
muscles, causing occlusion of carotids with blood clots, mpeding the rate of blood loss - this is also known as
carotid ballooning.

These situations can lead to recovery of consciousness and / or delayed onset of death via exsanguination.

Chest sticking is, hence, preferable to achieve rapid loss of consciousness since the long skin incision followed
by insertion of the knife into the chest cavity results in severance of the brachiocephalic trunk, ensuring rapid
blood loss.
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Pop-up <chest>
EFSA 2004
After chest sticking of pigs, the time between the first appearance of blood from the sticking wound and to
loss of brain responsiveness (based on reduction in Visual Evoked Responses) was found to range between
14 and 23 seconds. Pigs are usually bled by chest sticking with incision of the major blood vessels which arise
from the heart. With an adequate incision, pigs lose between 40 and 60% of their total blood volume, and
within 30 seconds the amount of blood lost is 70-80% of the total amount of blood which will be lost.

Pop-up <size of the cut>

As for cattle, but do not go in too far or a pocket of blood will collect at the shoulder. To reduce contamination
by the scalding tank water the cut should be as small as possible (FAO).
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Pop-up <blood vessels>

The number of blood vessels cut will vary depending upon the make and model of the automatic neck cutter
and the way the machine is set up, and the positioning of the bird. Some machines cut a vertebral artery at
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the back of the head, others aim to cut one carotid artery and one jugular vein on one side of the neck
(unilateral neck cut) and others aim to cut two carotids and two jugular veins (ventral cut) (EFSA, 2012).

In most mammalian species chest sticking is performed by severing major blood vessels in the thorax or
chest by inserting a knife in front of the brisket or sternum. Two different knives are used; one for the skin
and the other for the vessels.
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For the poultry species, a single knife cut simultaneously cuts the skin and vessels. For cattle, the 2 knife
technique is preferred where stunning is used.

In this topic the assessment of clinical signs of death is described.

We will give you some general information concerning the indicators to detect
• the absence of signs of life;
• the control points;
• and good practices during slaughtering.
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In this topic we will describe the right procedure to ensure animal welfare during depopulation and
emergency killing.
We will see:
• how to set up an action plan;
• the best stunning / killing methods for the main animal species;
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• and how report the depopulation activity.

Box <Depopulation>
‘Depopulation’ means the process of killing animals for public health, animal health, animal welfare or
environmental reasons under the supervision of the Competent
Authority.
(Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009)

Box <Emergency killing>

‘Emergency killing’ means the killing of animals which are injured or have a disease associated with severe
pain or suffering and where there is no other practical possibility to alleviate this pain or suffering (Council
Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009).

Please note that depopulation is a decision that involves the Competent Authorities whereas emergency
killing on farm is the keeper’s obligation.

Pop-up <depopulation>
Depopulation often has to be performed during disaster management which typically involves multiple
priorities, such as, animal health, public health, environment, and animal welfare. Whilst it is important that
animal welfare rules are complied with at all stages in the process of depopulation, under exceptional
circumstances compliance with those rules may put human health at risk or may significantly slow down the
process of eradication of a disease, thereby exposing more animals to sickness and death.
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Pop-up <derogations>
As referred in EC Regulation 1099/2009, Art. 1:
2. Chapter II, except for Article 3(1) and (2) thereof, Chapter III and Chapter IV except for Article 19 thereof,
shall not apply in case of emergency killing outside of a slaughterhouse or where compliance with those
provisions would result in an immediate and serious risk for human health or safety.
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Pop-up <contingency plans >

Contingency plans need to be based on different scenarios, with regards to the size and the location of
suspected outbreaks. In the National Action Plan of the individual Member states, SOP’s are to describe in
detail how the EU Guidelines described in EC Regulation1099/2009 are to be implemented. Competent
Authorities shall ensure that such operations are carried out in accordance with the action plan and take any
appropriate action to safeguard the welfare of the animals under the best available conditions.

Pop-up <action plan>

The unpredictability in type, time, place or severity of a disease outbreak and complexity of the disease
management process, while creating some issues for appropriate training of personnel, means that it is
crucial to be fully prepared with contingency plans.
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Pop-up <competent>
As provided in the EC Regulation 1099/2009, art. 7 (1). Killing and related operations shall only be carried out
by persons with the appropriate level of competence to do so without causing the animals any avoidable
pain, distress or suffering.
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If depopulation has to be carried out on farm it is recommended to separate the animals into small groups,
using farm facilities to confine and restrain them. Animals may not be well restrained and inadeguate lighting
conditions may make the stunning more complicated (e.g. impairing accurate aiming of the captive bolt gun).

Pop-up <depopulation>
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Permitted stunning methods are often the same as those used in slaughterhouses, but procedures to arrange
these are often different and hence the preferred methods are different.

Pop-up <bleeding>
Since killing by bleeding is neither appropriate nor feasible in the field, it will not be mentioned in this section.

Pop-up <pithing>
Pithing means the laceration of the central nervous tissue and spinal cord by means of an elongated rod-
shaped instrument introduced into the cranial cavity (art. 2(r))
Pithing does not compensate for a poorly performed captive bolt shot: it is inhumane to pith a poorly stunned
animal!
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Pop-up <shooting position>

In hornless animals, the shooting position should be the highest point of the head, aiming towards the angle
of the jaw. In horned animals, the muzzle should be placed just behind the ridge which runs between the
horns, aiming towards the mouth.
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Pop-up <electrical stunning>

Head-only electrical stunning followed by the induction of cardiac ventricular fibrillation (cardiac arrest) is an
acceptable two-cycle electrical method for killing pigs for depopulation purpose.

Pop-up <guns>
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Continuous use of a captive bolt gun will lead to overheating of its barrel and, therefore, rotation of guns will
be necessary. Guns and cartridges appropriate to the size of animals shall be selected: boars and sows will
require guns with longer bolts; check manufacturers’ guidelines.

Pop-up <shooting position>

It is important to restrain animals appropriately such that bolts could be fired correctly in the recommended
position.
The ideal shooting position is in the mid-line of the forehead, 1-2 cm above eye level, and the muzzle of the
captive bolt should be placed against the head (in the case of guns with recessed bolts) and directed towards
the tail which mean that the angle to the forehead may vary depending on the breed and the shape of the
head. Boars and large sows may have a ridge of bone running down the centre of the forehead. This may
interfere or prevent the bolt penetrating the brain cavity and the pig will not be stunned effectively. In such
cases, the recommended shooting position is 3-4 cm above the eye level and the muzzle of the captive-bolt
should be placed slightly to one side of the ridge, aiming into the centre of the head.

Pop-up < effectiveness>

Animals should be rendered unconscious in a single shot. In any case, if in doubt – shoot again.

Pop-up <electrical>
Electrical stunning/killing mobile systems were used in the Netherlands in 2003 during the avian influenza
outbreak: birds were electrically killed in water baths supplied with between 2 and 4 A (400 to 800 mA/bird).

Pop-up <welfare concern>

Intensive handling/shackling of birds prior to killing, low capacity (i.e. rate of throughput); waterbath needs
to be the correct height to ensure all birds are immersed and killed.
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Pop-up <high concentration>

Please remember that high concentrations of CO2 are only allowed for depopulation purposes for poultry
(not for slaughtering).

Pop-up <CO2>
The concentration of CO2 should be at least 50% by volume in air.

Pop-up <death>
Death should be confirmed before carcass disposal and survivors must be humanely killed.
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Pop-up <WHG>
Under WHG, the gas is delivered directly from a tanker lorry into a poultry house via single or multiple
injection ports (e.g. metal gas injection pipe with 32 mm internal diameter) depending upon the size of the
house, inserted through holes drilled in the walls.
The ventilation hatches in the houses need to be sealed, which can be completed from outside the building.
Exposure to a minimum of 45% by volume of CO2 in air for 2 min would be more than adequate to kill poultry.
Technical data sheets indicate that the boiling point of liquid carbon dioxide is -78.5oC, which may vary
according to the environmental temperature and pressure. Therefore, it is logical to assume that the
temperature at output from a liquid source, e.g. tanker lorry, could be extremely low and may induce freezing
of the birds, this is a concern for bird welfare.

Pop-up <without entering the house>

In some countries, killing poultry in situ has also been tried by manually sprinkling / spreading crushed dry ice
over the floor or laying cylinders of carbon dioxide gas on the floor and opening the valves. These methods
of administration of carbon dioxide require personnel wearing gas masks and protection equipment entering
infected premises, and may therefore, involve health and safety hazards.
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Pop-up <Art. 18(4)>

EC Regulation 1099/2009, Art.18
4. By 30 June each year, the competent authority referred to in paragraph 1 shall transmit to the Commission
a report on the depopulation operations carried out during the previous year and make it publicly available
via the Internet.
With regards to each depopulation operation, that report shall include, in particular:
(a) the reasons for the depopulation;
(b) the number and the species of animals killed;
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(c) the stunning and killing methods used;

(d) a description of the difficulties encountered and, where appropriate, solutions found to alleviate or
minimise the suffering of the animals concerned; (e) any derogation granted in accordance with
paragraph 3.

Pop-up <derogation>
EC Regulation 1099/2009, Art.18
6. Where appropriate, in order to take account of the information collected by the ADNS, derogation from
the reporting obligation laid down in paragraph 4 of this Article may be adopted in accordance with the
procedure referred to in Article 25(2).