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Animal Welfare at slaughter and killing for disease control

Unit 1 - Anatomy and Physiology

In this first Unit, we want to stress the importance of understanding the anatomical and physiological
systems of farm animals with regards to the slaughter process.
We all know that stunning targets brain, impairing its function and, hence, causing loss of consciousness
and sensibility. Further, that killing for slaughtering purpose is performed by cutting the major blood vessels
in the neck (exsanguination), hence blocking the oxygen supply to the brain, leading to irreversible loss of
consciousness and death.
However, there are some particular aspects of anatomy and physiology that should be kept in mind. For
example, a knowledge of anatomy is helpful in guiding the correct use of mechanical stunning, and to some
extent for electrical stunning and exsanguination as well.
The contents of this Unit are therefore relevant to understand the effects of stunning and exsanguination
on the main livestock species. cattle, pigs, sheep and goats and poultry.
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The learning objective is the knowledge of basic anatomy: brain and cardiovascular systems.
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In cattle, vertebral arteries are protected within the foraminae of the cervical vertebrae.
Therefore, even after cutting both the carotid arteries by neck cutting, part of the blood supply to the forebrain
is maintained via the vertebral-occipital anastomosis and rete mirabile.
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This peculiarity explains why cattle, compared to other livestock, tend to lose consciousness more slowly
when slaughtered without stunning.

Pop up <Rete mirabile>

The rete mirabile is an intricate plexus derived from the divisions of an artery and the blood is resumed
without the interposition of one or more capillaries artery. The rete mirabile has the following functions:
protection of organs, heat exchanger, reserve and regulation of blood flow. It would appear that a well-
developed carotid rete, in ruminants, is associated with a degenerating internal carotid artery.

Pop up <Vertebral artery>

The vertebral artery is a branch of the subclavian artery, runs upward and then through the foramina in the
transverse processes of the upper six cervical vertebrae. Branches of the vertebral artery: Spinal Branches
(rami spinales) enter in the vertebral canal through the intervertebral foramina to blood supply the medulla
spinalis and its membranes (meninges).

Pop up <Common carotid>

The common carotid follow the brachiocephalic trunk and trifurcates to give: external carotid (which
becomes maxillary), internal carotid (degenerate or vanish) and occipital artery. There is a communication
between the occipital and vertebral arteries - occipito-vertebral anastomosis.

More info
The brain of ruminants is perfused with blood from a vascular network called “rete mirabile” (carotid rete)
that receives branches from the carotid and vertebral arteries. In cattle, extra anastomosis may supply
blood to rete mirabile and the brain, sometimes even after cutting both the carotid arteries. In sheep and
goats this is not the case. As seen in the illustration the extra branch, called the occipito-vertebral
anastomosis, connecting occipital and vertebral arteries exists in cattle but not in sheep and goats. That is
the reason why sometimes loss of brain function following neck cutting can be delayed in cattle due to on-
going blood supply, especially if occlusions (clotting and ballooning) occur in the cut carotid arteries.
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Common signs can be:

• high-pitched vocalisations, especially pigs and cattle but not sheep;
• extreme flight reactions;
• aggression, especially cattle;
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• reluctance to move or immobility, especially sheep;

• wing flapping and muscle tremor in birds.

The learning objective is the knowledge of basic physiology:

• Pre-slaughtering stress
• Pain and fear
• Animal senses and handling
• Physiology of unconsciousness and time to brain death
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Pop up <Transport Stress>

Transported animals are subject to a variety of stressors:
- Loading and unloading from the truck
- Subdivision into groups
- Constant noise and vibration, etc.
That may adversely affect their welfare. Operators must handle animals in manner that favours the
ethological characteristics of each species in order to avoid further excitement after transportation.

More info
In livestock, as in humans, the response to challenges is a natural adaptive reaction and each species has
specific requirements and different sensitivities to stressors. Pigs, for example, are more sensitive to the
vibration of the truck during transportation than are cattle or sheep.
To minimise stress, slaughter and related operations shall be performed without causing the animals any
avoidable pain, suffering or distress.
Understanding the principles to minimise stress is a key objective of this course.
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Pop-up <Adrenalin>
Adrenaline is released into the bloodstream provoking an increase in:
• heart rate;
• blood pressure;
• respiration rate;
• muscle tone;
• and cell metabolism.

Pop-up <Cortisol>
Cortisol is responsible for mobilising energy to cope with the stressor, whilst also altering the animal’s
ability to mount an immune response.

Pop-up <Attention!>
Preslaughter handling and stress can influence muscle metabolism and meat quality.
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Pop-up <reactions>
The reaction depends on the:
• species;
• age;
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• gender;
• size;
• temperament;
• experience;
• nature of the fear stimulus.

The general fearfulness and experience of the individual will influence the reaction to the situation.

Box <Fear>
While high pitched vocalisations induced by management is common in pigs and cows, this is not the case
for sheep; extreme flight reactions or aggression is typical in many species but not in all.

For example, with sheep, there may be a reluctance to move or they become immobile; or wing flapping
and muscle tremor in birds.

Box <Pain>
Common signs can be: depressive state; trembling; aggression to touch; decreased flight distance relative to
group mates; isolation; inactivity or other abnormal activities or postures (e.g. position of limbs, head, neck,
ears and tail).
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Note, that where animals exhibit freezing behaviour other indicators may not be seen. This does not mean
that the animal is not in pain (for example, in slaughter of sheep without stunning they show no reaction).
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Box <Physiological changes>

These are very similar for both pain and fear, including:
 changes in heart and respiration rate;
 dilated pupils;
 wide-open eyes;
 increased muscular tone;
 blood pressure or elevated stress hormone concentrations, such as cortisol.

Box <Biochemical changes>

Blood glucose is a good indicator of both pain and fear as it increases in response to activation of stress
hormones. Markers of muscle activity can also be used to measure both states, even if they are more linked to
pain than fear.
Pain could be a consequence of muscular damage from rough handling, which can be indicated by an increase in
concentrations of biochemical markers of muscle activity e.g. creatine kinase.
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Pop-up <Contrast>
Animals can correctly evaluate distances only in the bifocal vision area: for this reason, they stop and lower
their head to get a better perception of the “depth” of the area when there is a light/dark contrast. This
sensitiveness to contrast of light and dark could cause several problems for animal handling.
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The learning objective is the knowledge of basic physiology of stunning:

• Function mechanism of mechanical stunning
• Function mechanism of electrical stunning
• Function mechanism of gas stunning
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Poo up < reversible >

The Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/20091099/2009 refers at these methods as “simple stunning” (Art.4).
Pop-up <differs>
Electrical stunning, for example, will produce unconsciousness for about 37 seconds while other methods, such
as captive bolt stunning, induce longer unconsciousness. The duration of loss of brain function can also vary
with species.
Pop up <longer>
Link to EC Regulation 1099/2009, article 4.1 and 4.2
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:303:0001:0030:EN:PDF
“The loss of consciousness and sensibility shall be maintained until the death of the animal.”
"The methods which do not result in instantaneous death shall be followed as quickly as possible by a procedure
ensuring death such as bleeding, pithing, electrocution or prolonged exposure to anoxia."
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Box <Mechanical methods>

• Penetrating captive bolts
• Non-penetrating captive bolts

Box <Electrical methods>

• Head-only
• Head-to-body
• Water-bath stunning in poultry

Box <Gaseous or controlled atmosphere stunning (CAS) methods>

• Carbon dioxide, nitrogen and/or argoneither alone or as mixtures of these gases
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Pop up <unconsciousness>
Some mechanical stunning methods lead to reversible stunning, others to irreversible stunning.
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Pop-up <epileptiform>
As reported in the Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009, Annex I, Chapter I, table 2.
More Info <Attention!>
Generalised epileptiform EEG consists of relatively small waves increasing in amplitude in the tonic phase,
and decreasing in frequency in the clonic phase to result ultimately in a period of strong depression of
electrical activity in pigs, sheep, calves and poultry.
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More Info
Council Reg. (EC) No 1099/2009
ANNEX I: LIST OF STUNNING METHODS AND RELATED SPECIFICATIONS (as referred to in Article 4)
CHAPTER I: Method

Table 2 — Electrical methods

Point 5. Head-to-body electrical stunning

5.1. Animals of the ovine, caprine and porcine species.
The minimum currents for head-to-body electrical stunning shall be 1 ampere for sheep and goats and 1,30 amperes for pigs.
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Pop-up <Attention!>
Electrical water bath stunning of rabbits seems to result in poor welfare.
Rabbits will kick very hard and attempt to regain upright posture and the kicking of hind legs result in
vertebral fracture.
The minimum current required to induce epileptiform activity in rabbits by electrical water bath stunning is
not known.
Due to these serious welfare problems, water bath stunners should not be used for rabbits.
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The learning objective is the knowledge of basic physiology of exsanguination:

• Neck cutting
• Chest sticking
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Weight of blood is about 8% of live weight of an animal and, normally, about 50% of total blood is removed
by exsanguination.
Most of the remaining blood is in the offal (visceral organs) and in major blood vessels and is removed
during evisceration and carcass dressing.
Very little blood is retained in the meat (capillaries): in beef, for example, blood is reduced from 60 ml/kg in
muscle prior to slaughter to about 2 to 9 ml/kg after bleed-out.

Exsanguination is performed to induce rapid death following stunning & to prevent recovery of
consciousness and sensibility.
• Exsanguination
• Reduced circulating blood volume
• Reduced cardiac output
• Loss of blood and nutrient supply to brain and other vital organs
• Death
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Box <Cattle>
Cattle that are stunned prior to slaughter should be bled-out with a chest stick (a neck cut is used in those
that are slaughtered without stunning)
Chest sticking is performed by inserting a knife deeply into the thoracic inlet at the base of the neck and
cutting the brachiocephalic trunk.

Box <Pigs>
Pigs are exsanguinated by chest sticking and is performed by inserting a knife deeply into the thoracic inlet
at the base of the neck and cutting the brachiocephalic trunk.

Box <Poultry>
For poultry exsanguination should be made by cutting the common carotid arteries and jugular veins in the
neck just behind the mandible (lower beak). Automatic exsanguination can be made with a single- ortwin-
bladed neck cutting machine, as showed in the figure, that will sever all these blood vessels.

Box <Sheep>
Unilateral spear sticking should only be used in sheep stunned by cardiac arrest with no recovery, as
exsanguination can take longer than desired. Exsanguination of sheep is performed by spear or gash
sticking.
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Spear sticking is performed by inserting a knife between the trachea and the cervical vertebra, with the
blunt edge of the knife facing the vertebra, and the knife is withdrawn along the point of insertion severing
blood vessels.
In gash sticking, the knife is inserted as for spear sticking method and all the soft tissues including blood
vessels on the ventral side of the neck is cut when the knife is withdrawn.

More Info <Attention!>

Even though the initial rate of blood flow may appear to be different between animals with and without
cardiac fibrillation, the total bleed out will be the same provided the correct vessels are severed and the cut
is large enough to facilitate drainage and the bleed-out time is sufficiently long.
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Pop-up < Pathophysiology of carotid artery aneurism>

Three mechanisms have been proposed to cause impairment in bleeding in cattle.
Firstly, there is occlusion of the severed artery by surrounding tissues, and in this respect it should be noted
that the artery is elastic and has a tendency to spring back into its connective tissue sheath on being cut.
Secondly, platelets can aggregate at the cut end of the carotid, and this leads to the rapid production of a
white clot which can plug the artery.
Thirdly, when the cut is made, the artery can go into an annular spasm. Such vasospasm could be promoted
by the release of vasoactive amines from platelets.
All three factors will tend to impede blood flow from the caudal cut end, and together they could help to
produce a ballooning effect in the severed vessel. In this situation blood infiltrates into and distends the
connective tissue sheaths surrounding the artery. The false aneurysms develop within few seconds of
cutting carotid arteries and take the form of encapsulated haematomas and can be distinguished in situ
from normal arteries by their swollen size.
The prevalence of false aneurysms with a diameter of three or more cm was greater in halal-slaughtered
water buffalo than halal-slaughtered cattle.
The resulting encapsulated haematoma can range from a uniform concentric layer around the artery to an
irregular bulge, which creates tortuosity in the artery.

Continued enlargement of the false aneurysm during the early stages of bleeding lead to obliteration of the
vessel.
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Cattle shot by captive bolt before cutting the vessels in the neck, can also develop false aneurysms at the
severed ends of the carotids.
False aneurysms do not occur following electrical stunning with cardiac arrest in cattle. It is therefore
suggested that the aneurysms form when the carotid arterial pressure is high, aneurysms do not form when
blood pressure is suppressed, and that they are more likely to form during the early part of the bleeding
period in animals that have a beating heart.
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