Animal category: Equines

Scientific article evaluating the Horse Grimace Scale and Behavioral Pain Score in hospitalized horses with ocular disease, and concluding that these may represent a useful tool for monitoring progress and response to treatment in these horses.

Article on the development and testing of a specific protocol for measuring the welfare of horses known to be reared in either extensive or confined systems, and assessing whether the  welfare indicators selected for it were influenced by the type of system (extensive or confined).

Scientific review examining the factors that affect horse welfare during transport, including vehicle type, driver expertise, transport time, direction the animal faces in the vehicle, injury and disease.

Answer to a question on whether it makes sense to distinguish between animals for slaughter and animals not intended for slaughter when transporting animals.

Scientific review describing the changes in  the literature on equine welfare over the past 40 years. The number of publications has increased exponentially over the period. The most common topics dealt with are stress assessment, pain assessment, equine social behavior and human-horse interaction. Positive welfare and the assessment of welfare at slaughter are under-represented.

Scientific review of the different stages of slaughtering and their possible impacts on animal stress, welfare and meat quality. It reviews the regulations and technological advances that have led to the development of mobile slaughter units, presents a non-exhaustive list of mobile slaughter units currently in use, and sets out the advantages and disadvantages of these mobile units.

Answer to a question concerning the position of the French Minister of Agriculture, who has stated that he is against a ban on exports of live animals to countries outside the European Union.

Document from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty pulling together all the information on the certificate of commitment and knowledge for keepers of equids required by the French law to combat animal abuse of November 30, 2021 and specified in its first implementing Decree of July 18, 2022.

Answer to a question concerning the information available to the European Commission on the abuse of working equids in Member States, particularly in Greece, and its intentions to increase measures to combat equid abuse. 

Answer to a question on how the European Commission intends to apply the regulations banning the transport of live animals when temperatures exceed specified thresholds, and whether it intends to carry out additional temperature checks.