Protection Of Farm Animals Research Articles

Animal Welfare: European Legislation and Future Perspectives

Although animals are central to the life of all societies, substantial differences exist in the level of understanding or attitudes toward animal-welfare issues between agrarian and urban societies in developing or industrial countries. These differences are largely dependent on people's degree of contact with animals. Other than domestic species, people in industrialized nations tend to have limited contact with farm and wild animals. With this reduced or lack of daily animal contact, there can be a parallel lack of understanding of or appreciation for animal-welfare issues. As a result, different nations have adopted various policies, procedures, and laws to ensure that their societies protect the welfare of animals. In this article, we chronicle 30 years of actions by European nations through the European Commission to enact legislation that ensures uniform standards of animal-welfare practices to protect farm animals, animals used in research, and wild animals held in captivity.

Neuere technische Entwicklungen und Trends in der Geflügelhaltung

Egg and poultry production must assert itself between the conflicting aspects of farm animal protection, product hygiene, increased energy and feeding costs, as well as environmental protection. The appropriate facilities and management systems are necessary to fulfil these requirements at reasonable costs. Future production units will have a structured keeping environment, computer based management systems, which manage numerous measuring and control functions, energy efficient facilities, as well as emission lowering technology.

Investitionsbedarf in der Ferkelproduktion

Calculating investments for buildings is more difficult than for machines, because they involve individual designs and not ready-made products. To get at least a target value for animal housing for the KTBL database, models were created for which investments and annual costs were calculated. For these calculations to remain up to date, they must be adjusted to technical developments and new regulations. Especially because of federal regulations on Farm Animal Protection (TierSchNutzV), new stable models for breeding pigs were determined and the corresponding investment requirements ascertained.

European approaches to ensure good animal welfare

Conventions to protect domestic animals during transport, farming and slaughter were established by the Council of Europe and approved by many European states. Conventions are followed by recommendations that specify how the general principles of conventions apply for the different species. The European Union (EU) started discussions on animal welfare in the 1980s and adopted a series of Directives to protect farm animals. Both Recommendations and Directives define higher space allowance, more opportunity for social contacts, balanced diet, enriched environment, and limitation of harmful procedures. Animal welfare law varies across Europe with Northern states generally having the most stringent legislation. There is also an increasing variety of farm production schemes within European member states which contain animal welfare standards that go beyond the legal minimum. Some schemes are retailer-led; others are founded by producer organizations, sometimes in co-operation with non-governmental organisations. The differences between schemes reflect higher national legal requirements, higher quality industry schemes, organic production schemes and specific welfare-friendlier schemes. The communication of these higher welfare standards to consumers through the use of a quality assurance scheme logo on a product or packaging claims does not always happen. Farmers differ in their motivation for participating in animal welfare schemes. Some are mainly encouraged by premium prices; others give ethical reasons for changing towards animal friendly production methods. Although there is no official link between the Brambell report and European regulations to protect farm animals, the fact that the first European regulations to protect animals were adopted 10 years after the report and were in line with the conclusions of the report suggest that the report was influential, not only in the United Kingdom but also in the rest of Europe.

Standard of Protection of Farm Animals in a Selected Region of the Czech Republic

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Welfare of farmed fish

Following the publication in September 1996 of the Farm Animal Welfare Council's (FAWC) report on the welfare of farmed fish, the UK Government consulted interested parties and has now produced a response taking account of these views. This comprises a 4-page overview document with a 17-page Annex which: (i) outlines the points which the Government proposes for inclusion in a welfare code for farmed fish production; and (ii) lists FAWC's recommendations. Two general points are made regarding the way forward. First, since the recently adopted EU Directive on the protection of farm animals (Council Directive 98/58/EC) does not include any requirements which deal in detail with the welfare of farmed fish, the UK will continue to play an active part in the Council of Europe's negotiations to develop recommendations. Second, the Government proposes that many of FAWC's recommendations should be met by developing voluntary codes of practice with the farmed salmon and trout industries. FAWC made a number of recommendations on the need for research and the Government has prioritized these as follows. First to review commercial slaughter methods for trout and ensure that humane methods are available (Government-funded work is already underway on this). Second, if funds become available, to investigate improved methods for stunning and killing farmed salmon and setting stocking densities. Further research into environmental stimulation and interrelationships between food distribution, fish size and fish welfare is then to be pursued. Other research topics, such as the development of systems which minimize injuries to snout and fins, are viewed as matters for the industry to pursue.

EU Directive on the protection of farm animals

The Council of Agriculture Ministers agreed a final text for Directive 98/58/EC concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes in June 1998, and the Directive was formally adopted in July 1998. This Directive sets minimum standards for welfare of livestock throughout the EU and a framework for adoption of more detailed standards for individual farmed species. It is not uncommon in legislation for the taxonomic range of the species covered to be rather poorly defined and often more inclusive than, one guesses, the legislators had in mind (eg specifying ‘bovine animal’ when ‘domestic cow’, rather than any member of the subfamily Bovinae was intended). In this case, it is made clear that the Directive applies only to vertebrate animals kept for farming purposes. However, while Article 3 requires that owners or keepers of any vertebrate animals kept for these purposes ‘…take all reasonable steps to ensure the welfare of animals under their care and to ensure that those animals are not caused any unnecessary pain, suffering or injury’, Article 4 applies only to some vertebrates, thus: ‘Member states shall ensure that the conditions under which animals (other than fish, reptiles or amphibians) are bred or kept‥, comply with the provisions set out in the Annex.’ The provisions in the Annex outline requirements for staffing, inspection, record-keeping, freedom of movement, buildings, accommodation and mechanical equipment, feed and water, mutilations, and breeding procedures. The final paragraph of the Annex, paragraph 21, appears strikingly sweeping and perhaps a potentially powerful force against the use of strains with high prevalences of production diseases. It states: ‘No animal shall be kept for farming purposes unless it can reasonably be expected, on the basis of its genotype or phenotype, that it can be kept without detrimental effect on its health or welfare’. Member states are required to bring the legislation, administrative provisions and sanctions necessary for compliance with the Directive into effect before 31 December 1999.

The Laying Hen: Proceedings of a Seminar Organised by the European Conference Group on the Protection of Farm Animals Edited by Valerie and Henry Carter (1992). European Conference Group on the Protection of Farm Animals: Horsham. 140 pp. Paperback. Obtainable from the publishers, ECOPFA, The Manor House, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HG, UK (ISBN 1 870861 03 5) Price

The Laying Hen: Proceedings of a Seminar Organised by the European Conference Group on the Protection of Farm Animals Edited by Valerie and Henry Carter (1992). European Conference Group on the Protection of Farm Animals: Horsham. 140 pp. Paperback. Obtainable from the publishers, ECOPFA, The Manor House, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HG, UK (ISBN 1 870861 03 5) Price £20. - Volume 2 Issue 1

Inactivation of foot and mouth disease virus inskimmed milk with propionic acid, citric acid and hydrogen peroxide

In order to protect farm animals from infections such as foot and mouth disease (FMD) and tuberculosis, the pasteurisation of milk and milk products designated for the feeding of animals is compulsory in Switzerland. Nowadays, milk products are often treated chemically with acids or with hydrogen peroxide in order to keep bacterial contamination low. The capacity of these chemical treatments to inactivate FMD virus in skimmed milk within 6 h at 5 degrees C was tested in this study. The results indicated that the addition of 0.1%-0.3% of consumable acids, such as citric acid or propionic acid, could not guarantee the complete inactivation of FMD virus in skimmed milk. Similar results were obtained both with FMD virus deliberately added to skimmed milk and with skimmed milk obtained from naturally infected cows. Hydrogen peroxide in concentrations of 0.1%-0.3% was also an ineffective means of controlling the risk of FMD virus transmission from contaminated milk.

Air quality standards for the protection of farm animals from fluorides.

The ingestion of forages contaminated with inorganic fluorides from industrial sources constitutes an air pollution problem for domestic livestock. In cattle, which have been studied most extensively, the syndrome is characterized by dental and skeletal lesions, lameness, chemical evidence of increased fluoride ingestion, and in severe cases by effects on appetite and milk production. The only practical basis for a standard appears to be one based on forage fluoride concentrations. It is concluded that a standard should protect cattle from loss of milk production and from severe dental fluorosis, but need not be set so low that the animals will be protected against any discernible deviations from normal which do not influence their general health, productive ability, or the soundness and wearing quality of their dentition. As there may be wide seasonal variations in forage fluoride concentrations, the basic standard should be expressed as a yearly average of the forage fluoride concentration. However, as the developing teeth may be adversely influenced by short periods of high exposure, the standard should contain a provision which limits both the extent and duration of time that high concentrations may be tolerated even though they are balanced by lower values at other months. Based on these criteria, a tentative standard which limits forage fluoride to an average of 40 ppm, and limits the time that forage concentrations may exceed 60 or 80 ppm F is proposed.