Species : Multiple species

European Parliament: Written answer to question E-000214/23: Animal welfare controls at EU exit points

Question: Thomas Waitz (Greens/EFA). Answer: Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission

Published in 2023

Answer to a question concerning the fact that the Greek border of Kakavia continues to be used as an exit point for live animals from the European Union (EU) even though it is not recognized as such, and asking whether any sanctions have been taken by the EU against Greece.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

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

Keywords: Societal issues, Transport

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Review: The challenge to integrate Animal Welfare indicators into the Life Cycle Assessment

L. Lanzoni, L. Whatford, A. Atzori, M. Chincarini, M. Giammarco, I. Fusaro, G. Vignola

Published in 2023

Scientific literature review of publications that consider the impact of livestock systems on both the environment and animal welfare. It shows that environmental impact assessment using life cycle assessment (LCA) has a much more consistent, standardized and thorough methodology than animal welfare assessments. It concludes that research is needed to integrate animal welfare assessment into LCA.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords:Environment, Welfare indicators, Modelling, One Welfare

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Review: Connecting circularity to animal welfare calls for a 'novel' conceptual framework based on integrity

M.B.M. Bracke, I.J.M. Boumans, H.J. Nijland, E.A.M. Bokkers

Published in 2023

Scientific review proposing a new conceptual framework it calls the circular welfare economy (CWE), intended to facilitate the transition to sustainable agriculture. The CWE applies the notion of circularity to welfare, defined as the quality of life as it is perceived by the individual animal itself. It also considers human integrity, defined as openness and honesty, to be a prerequisite for sustainability.

Document Types: Scientific review

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

Keywords: Environment, One Welfare, Human-animal relationships,Societal issues

The grim reality of industrial animal farming

Eurogroup for Animals

Published in 2023

Report summarizing the main welfare problems faced by broilers, fish, pigs, dairy cows and rabbits in intensive farming and the main shortcomings of current European legislation in this respect.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Cattle, Goats, Sheep, Fish, Pigs, Poultry

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

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Innovation across 13 ungulate species: problem solvers are less integrated in the social group and less neophobic

Alvaro L. Caicoya, Alina Schaffer, Ruben Holland, Lorenzo von Fersen, Montserrat Colell, Federica Amici

Published in 2023

Scientific paper on the problem-solving abilities of 13 ungulate species. Using a foraging task, it tests whether individual factors (neophobia, social integration, sex, age, status) and socio-ecological factors (dietary range, fission-fusion dynamics, domestication, group size) are predictors of participation and performance in the task.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Ruminants

Keywords:Learning, training, Brain integration, Cognitive processeses

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Development of a data-driven method for assessing health and welfare in the most common livestock species in Switzerland: The Smart Animal Health project

Beat Thomann, Hanno Würbel, Tahibault Kuntzer, Christina Umstätter, Beat Wechsler, Mireille Meylan, Gertraud Schüpbach-Regula

Published in 2023

Article describing how a method was developed to assess health and welfare on individual Swiss livestock farms using information from agricultural databases and supervised machine learning. This method made it possible to score the animal health and welfar management performance of farms in a way comparable to on-farm assessment by trained staff.

Document Types: Scientific paper

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

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Livestock farming system, Welfare indicators

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Challenges In Understanding Farmed Insect Welfare

Meghan Barrett, Bob Fischer

Published in 2023

Challenges identified in this article include the rapid growth of the insect farming industry and associated innovations, the use of welfare tools originally developed for vertebrates, variations between populations and individuals, welfare needs during insect development, and animal welfare trade-offs in the decision to use insect as opposed to fish proteins.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories:Insects

Keywords: Societal issues, Welfare indicators, Human-animal relationships

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Assemblée nationale: réponse écrite à la question n°5240 : Absence d’étiquetage concernant l’abattage rituel 

Question: Serge Muller (RN - Dordogne). Answer: Ministry of the Interior

Published in 2023

Answer to a question on the possible introduction of labelling to show "slaughter with stunning" or "slaughter without stunning", to enable all consumers to make informed purchases.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Ovines

Keywords:Consciousness, Pain, Societal issues, Human-animal relationships, Stress

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EU POSITIVE LIST - A proposal to regulate the trade in animals destined for life as a pet

Eurogroup for Animals

Published in 2023

A white paper that presents a framework that is feasible in legal terms for a positive list of exotic animal species that could be  legally traded and/or kept as pets. This list takes into account animal welfare, public health, and Adaptation of the animal to the environment conservation.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Wildlife

Keywords:Societal issues, Animal population management, Living environment, Human-animal relationships

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Advancing the quantitative characterization of farm animal welfare

Harriet Bartlett, Andrew Balmford, Mark A. Holmes, James L. N. Wood

Published in 2023

Paper developing welfare indicators for use in life cycle assessment (LCA) and different ways of aggregating them, then testing them on British pig farms. It shows that farms in the same LCA class have the same types of quality labels, and that the details of the way in which LCA welfare measures are established have little impact on the classification of farms based on their welfare levels.

Document Types: Scientific paper

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

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Adaptation of the environment to the animal, Animal-based measurements, Environment, Welfare indicators, Living environment

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