Document type: Literature review carried out by the ETRE office on behalf of OABA.
Authors: Cécile Bourguet, Noémie Devriendt, Claudia Terlow, Gautier Riberolles
Summary: Pain and fear are frequent sources of stress during slaughter. In this context, a scientific overview is required to make it possible to inventory the sources of stress and pain associated with the stunning and killing of cattle in France, with and without stunning.
In this report, a general introduction first outlines the regulatory and practical framework and defines stress, pain and consciousness in this context (PART 1). This is followed by a review of the current state of knowledge concerning the different sources of pain and stress associated with the killing of cattle with stunning prior to bleeding (PART 2), without stunning (PART 3) and with pain relief, i.e. stunning immediately after the throat is slit (PART 4). This report is based on international scientific articles and reports published in this field.
