Time to Loss of Behavioural and Brainstem Responses of Ducks Following Non-Stunned Slaughter

Gibson, Troy

Abstract

Non-stunned slaughter has been extensively described for other farmed species but there has been limited research on waterfowl. The study assessed 34 ducks in a non-stunned halal slaughter-house in Brazil for time to loss of consciousness using various behavioural and brainstem indices (balance, cranial nerve reflexes, and muscle tension) and assessed the relationship between extent of clotting, location of neck cut, level of damage to neck vessels/tissues and the time to onset of unconsciousness. In addition, operator practices were separately observed and neck pathology following the cut was examined in 217 carcasses after bleeding. Following the neck cut there was a wide variation between birds in the time to loss of behavioural and brainstem indices, ranging from 20-334 and 20-382 seconds for neck and beak tension respectively. The median time to loss of balance following the neck cut was 166 ± 14 (22-355) seconds. There was a moderate correla-tion (R = 0.60 and 0.62) between distance of the neck cut and time to loss of balance and neck ten-sion, respectively. These findings suggest that for ducks the time to loss of consciousness follow-ing non-stunned slaughter is longer than previously considered and cutting closer to the jaw re-duces this time.

Citation

Gibson, T. (in press). Time to Loss of Behavioural and Brainstem Responses of Ducks Following Non-Stunned Slaughter. Animals, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123531

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 10, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Nov 10, 2021
• Deposit Date: Sep 3, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 15, 2021
• Journal: Animals
• Print ISSN: 2076-2615
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123531
• Public URL: https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/output/1550738