Keywords: Societal issues

A European guide to establishing supply chains for whole or immunocastrated male pigs (English version)

European Commission

Published in 2018

Rearing: the guide includes reports of on-farm experiments to limit the occurrence of boar taint or to achieve 100% immuno-vaccination in males.
Abattoirs: the survey of methods to detect carcasses with boar taint indicates that the majority of supply chains involved use the "human nose" method, following rigorous protocols. Danish scientists report that an objective technique for quantifying malodorous molecules is being developed in an abattoir.
Curing: alternative uses for the small percentage of carcasses with boar taint are set out.
Changing practices: Last, examples of supply chains that have wholly or partially ceased surgical castration highlight the key role of retail sales personnel in promoting product chains that follow the specifications and in making consumers aware of them.

Document Types: Good practice guide

Animal categories: Porcines

Keywords: Societal issues, Risk management, Mutilation, Carcass quality, Processing

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Y a-t-il des alternatives à la castration chirurgicale des porcelets ?

A. PRUNIER, M. BONNEAU

Published in 2006

The review discusses alternatives to the surgical castration of male pigs, which protects consumers from strong smelling meat (boar taint) but which is carried out in some cases without anesthesia.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Porcines

Keywords: Pain, Societal issues, Risk management, Welfare indicators, Mutilation, Carcass quality, Stress, Livestock farming system

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US Farm Animal Welfare: An Economic Perspective

Tonsor GT, Wolf CA

Published in 2019

This article briefly summarises on-farm animal welfare from an economic perspective, one of the most controversial and complex issues in modern agriculture, with a focus on the situation in the United States.

Document Types: Scientific review

Keywords: Societal issues, Livestock farming system

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Ethical justifications for animal welfare concerns

Larrère R

Published in 2007

The article addresses the issue of moral concern for domestic animals and for animal welfare defined as freedom from mortality and morbidity, freedom from stress, and the animal's freedom to express the natural behaviour of its species. While the first two definitions can lead to a failure to consider the animal in all its aspects, the third has the advantage of achieving this, taking into account the needs and social behaviours of livestock.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Keywords: Consciousness, Societal issues, Human-animal relationships

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Bien-être animal : contexte, définition, évaluation

Mormède P., Boisseau-Sowinski L., Chiron J., Diederich C., Eddison J., Guichet J.L., Le Neindre P., Meunier-Salaün M.C.

Published in 2018

This concept note puts the issue of welfare back into its context, proposes a definition that takes account of the latest knowledge on the sensitivity and consciousness of animals, and considers their practical incorporation into animal husbandry. The importance of the welfare of animals dependent on humans (farm animals, pets, zoo animals, circus animals, laboratory animals, etc) has gradually asserted itself over the last 50 years, particularly in the context of animal production, and is at the heart of concerns over the future of animal husbandry. The concept of animal welfare is placed in its philosophical, societal and legal contexts, all of which influence the ways it is taken account of and the meanings assigned to it. Particular attention has been paid to the scientific foundations for the concept of welfare, based on the psychological characteristics of animals as sentient and conscious beings. ... Protocols for assessing animal welfare must therefore combine the analysis of behaviour and the physiological and health status of the animal with data on the environment.

Document Types: Scientific review

Keywords: Societal issues, Livestock farming system

Bien-être animal et travail en élevage

Porcher J.

Published in 2004

Animal welfare is today an unavoidable part of the political, economic and social landscape of animal production, found in regulations, technical standards, ethical requirements, economic injunctions, etc. This book, through the selection of over a hundred separately authored texts accompanied by commentaries, provides the necessary tools to understand and analyse the origins of the issue of animal welfare, the stakes involved, and possible ways to solve the problems raised. The originality of this book lies in the fact that it selects a group of authors with contrasting opinions, but also in the fact that it draws on a wide range of disciplines: zootechnics, psychology, sociology, philosophy, ethology, history, economics, etc. Organised in four parts, it deals with the history of animal husbandry, sets out the scientific issues relating to welfare and the question of working animals, examines the living conditions of working animals and, last, considers the question of sustainable animal husbandry.

Document Types: Scientific work

Animal categories: Monogastrics, Ruminants

Keywords: Societal issues, Livestock farming system

Le bien-être animal : de la science au droit

Hild S., Schweitzer L.

Published in 2018

Researchers, experts and members of the European Commission and the French Ministry of Agriculture provide an array of answers to key questions: what scientific definition should be given to animal welfare? On what criteria should it be assessed? What national or international rights do respondents take into account? Which animals are involved? What are the obstacles to ensuring the welfare of animals? The answers provided here will strengthen the next steps towards new regulatory provisions.

Document Types: Scientific work

Animal categories: Monogastrics, Ruminants

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Societal issues, Human-animal relationships, Livestock farming system

Ethique des relations homme/animal – Pour une juste mesure

Denis B.

Published in 2015

Whether it is a question of their status or their welfare, animals find themselves firmly at the centre of major contemporary debates. In this book, the authors address the ethics of human/animal relations in animal husbandry, discussing livestock animals within their economic context of production. 

Document Types: Scientific work

Keywords: Biodiversity, Wildlife population dynamics, Societal issues, Experimentation, Livestock farming system

Bien-Etre animal

INRA

Published in 2007

Special issue on Animal Welfare, containing 14 original articles on aims, methodology and purpose, ethical foundations, variants for different species, how it is perceived by the animal industries.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Equines, Ovines, Fish, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurements, Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Living environment,Cognitive processes, Human-animal relationships, Stress

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Social acceptability of farmed animals in France: inventory and analysis of the main controversies based on the views of different stakeholders

Delanoue E., Roguet C.

Published in 2015

In a context where livestock farming and its practices are frequently called into question, an analysis of the points of disagreement in different sectors (pigs, poultry, cattle, sheep and goats) was carried out within the framework of the Elevages Demain Scientific Interest Group (GIS). A literature review was conducted to understand the basis for social concerns about livestock farming and assess their robustness. At the same time, some thirty interviews were conducted with various stakeholders involved in the debates - professionals in the sector, employees of voluntary associations, journalists and distributors - in order to identify and describe the main areas of contention over livestock farming in France. The work highlights strongly-held and long-standing concerns on the part of the public with regard to livestock farming, which cannot be dismissed as the consequences of 'fads'. 

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Ovines, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords: Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Societal issues, Environment, Livestock farming system

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