Welfare Aspects of the Long Distance Transportation of Cattle

Lucrări ştiinţifice Zootehnie şi Biotehnologii, vol. 42 (2) (2009), Timişoara WELFARE ASPECTS OF THE LONG DISTANCE TRANSPORTATION OF CATTLE ASPECTE ALE BUNĂSTĂRII ÎN TRANSPORTUL TAURINELOR LA DISTANŢE MARI EVANGELIA N. SOSSIDOU1, D. M. BROOM2, L. T. CZISZTER3, R. GEERS4, G. GEBRESENBET5, E. SZŰCS6 1 National Agricultural Research Foundation, Veterinary Research Institute, 57001 Thermi, Thessaloniki, Greece, P.O. Box 60272, Greece,Tel.:++302310 365383, Fax:++302310 365371, E-mail:sossidou.arig@nagref.gr; 2Centre of Animal Welfare and Anthrozoology, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge; 3Faculty of Animal Science & Biotechnologies, USAMVB Timisoara, Romania; 4Zootechnical Centre, K.U.Leuven R&D, ,Belgium; 5Logistics and Transport Division, Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden; 6AgroEurope, Gödöllö, Hungary This paper sets out to examine the facts behind the trade of long distance transportation of cattle. In particular it looks at the various welfare implications during handling and transport with examples from research work on cattle. The role of the science is explained and the methodology for assessing the welfare of animals is then presented. Finally, public concerns and legal position are presented as they play an important role to promote farm animal welfare principles during transportation. Keywords: cattle, transport, welfare Introduction The welfare of an individual is its state as regards its attempts to cope with its environment (Broom 1986) and includes both the extent of failure to cope and the ease or difficulty in coping. Health is an important part of welfare whilst feelings, such as pain, fear and various forms of pleasure, are components of the mechanisms for attempting to cope so should be evaluated where possible in welfare assessment (Broom 1998, 2001). Long distance transportation of live animals is associated with a wide variety of stressors, including heat and cold, hunger, thirst, humidity, overcrowding, mixing with unfamiliar animals, fatigue, motion sickness, noise and vibration, and inadequate ventilation. Such stressors often result in poor welfare, a state in which the efficiency of the body defence including the immune system can be compromised. 613 Key factors which can result in stress during animal handling and transport are: attitudes to animals and the need for training of staff; laws and retailers’ codes; genetics especially selection for high productivity; rearing conditions and experience; the mixing of animals from different social groups; handling procedures; driving methods; stocking density; increased susceptibility to disease and increased spread of disease (FVE, 2001; SCAHAW, 2002; EFSA, 2004). Nowadays, animal welfare during transport is the subject of debate, often based on emotional approaches. However, it is important that the economic, scientific and practical dimensions should be taken into account by legislative and executive bodies and the animal welfare movement. In this paper various welfare aspects of the long distance transportation of cattle are introduced. Scientific evidence is presented together with ethical and public concerns, as well as enforcement problems with examples from work on cattle long distance transportation. Long distance transportation of cattle and welfare It is estimated that at least 25 million cattle are transported per year nationally and internationally within Europe, some for slaughter, and others for further fattening. Many of these journeys, which involve extensive suffering, take over 30 hours. Animals might be packed into overcrowded trucks and might often be given no, or far too little, food, water or rest. Moreover, each year, almost one million young calves are transported on very long journeys across Europe, even though young calves can suffer greatly during lengthy journeys. The long distance transport of animals is not only increasing significantly but is also changing in nature. What has made circumstances different in the 21st century is the nature of transport, the volume of traffic and a public awareness of welfare issues with demands that animals be treated humanely and in accordance with best contemporary practices. This increased volume of transport creates an unprecedented risk for disseminating infectious diseases, including those that may affect people (Adams and Thornber, 2008). Almost all cattle transport operations are by road. A small minority of animals are transported by sea or rail, or combinations of these. As examples of long distance routes of cattle transportation (Stevenson, 2008), Table 1 sets out Ireland’s trade in young calves. Ireland sends over 100 000 cattle a year to Spain and Italy for fattening; some of these are young calves, but most are weanlings (aged 6-12 months). The journeys to southern Europe take 42-50 hours and are around 2 200km in distance. Reports by the European Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) and by NGOs show that Irish transporters often fail to unload the animals and rest them in France as required by EU legislation (Animals’ Angels, 2006). Road transportation of cattle has been extensively studied, however very little is known about cattle long distance transport by sea or by rail. 614 Importing Countries The Netherlands Spain Belgium France Italy Table 1 Ireland’s trade in young calves Number of calves leaving Ireland 53 591 17 640 15 139 10 011 2 982 Source: Cattle Movement Monitoring System, Ireland & P. Westra, author of annual booklet produced by Product Boards for Livestock, Meat and Eggs, the Netherlands The requirements for rail transport are essentially similar to those for road transport, focussing on standards for vehicles, rest periods, and times for feeding and watering. Rail transport has the disadvantage of repeated handling of livestock, usually the loading and unloading from road transport at the start and finish of the journey. In many parts of the world, conditions for the rail transport of animals, including the stockmanship involved, can be poorer than those for road transport. Rail transport for farm animals is therefore less favoured and has been completely abandoned in many countries. Regarding sea transport, Norris (2003) outlines the programme of research undertaken into the causes of sheep and cattle deaths during sea transport from Australia – the world’s largest exporter of sheep and cattle by sea. The main findings of these investigations are summarised as follows: The death rate for all cattle during sea transport from Australia to all destinations during 2004 was 0.10%. Investigations on voyages to the Middle East showed that the main causes of cattle deaths were heat stroke, trauma and respiratory disease. All of the deaths from heat stroke were in Bos taurus breeds and occurred in the latter half of the voyage. The research also showed that the risk of death on voyages to the Middle East was three times greater among cattle exported from southern ports in Australia compared to northern ports. The likely reason is the higher content of tropically-adapted Bos indicus cattle in northern Australia and their ability to handle the heat and humidity encountered during the voyage, in contrast to the B. taurus breeds from southern Australia. Scientific evidence The suffering that is inherent in long distance transportation has been extensively documented. Scientific research shows that food and water deprivation for 14 hours results in vigorous attempts by cattle to obtain food and water (SCAHAW, 2002). Cattle prefer to remain standing during transport. However, they will lie down after 16 hours of transport, due to fatigue (Tarrant et al., 1992). Cattle avoid lying down (i) because, being heavy animals, they get bruised by banging against the hard floor 615 during transport and (ii) because of the danger of being trampled by the other animals. However, the effort of standing might be tiring and quite demanding and so after 16 hours they begin to lie down. Moreover, evidence from the scientific literature indicates that mortality of adult cattle during transport increases with the length of journey (Malena et al., 2007). The vast majority of cattle are bruised during loading and transport. Jarvis et al. (1995) reported bruises on 97% of the carcasses at two slaughterhouses. Bruising increases with distance travelled (McNally and Warriss, 1996), with high stocking densities (Tarrant et al., 1992) or when cattle are driven with a stick. Moreover, when male adult cattle are mixed during transport or in lairage, they may fight and this behaviour can be recorded directly (Kenny and Tarrant, 1987). In a recent study heat stress in slaughter cattle during long road transport has been measured (Hartung et al., 2007) and the results demonstrated that the animals can be submitted to significant thermal stresses during transports in the summer, especially during stops. As regards calves, a review (Knowles, 1995) of the scientific literature stated that “Evidence from the literature suggests that young calves are not well adapted to cope with transport and marketing, often suffering relatively high rates of morbidity and mortality, both during, and in the few weeks immediately following transport .....Comparatively few normal calves actually die during transport but they succumb, usually within four weeks, to secondary disease as a consequence of their inability to respond appropriately to transport”. There is quite a lot of research already done on the effects of transports of young calves on their welfare, including their health (e.g. Mormède et al., 1982; Trunkfield and Broom, 1990; Atkinson, 1992; Schrama et al., 1996; Knowles et al., 1997; Steinhardt and Thiescher, 1999; Todd et al., 2000; Van de Water et al., 2003). It has been shown that young calves respond to transport with an increase in body temperature, heart rate and plasma cortisol concentration (Steinhardt and Thielscher, 1999) and significantly increased levels of adrenaline (Thielscher and Steinhardt, 2004). The results derived from the above research show that young calves are very poorly adapted to cope with transport, resulting in high mortality rates. Therefore, transport should be avoided where possible. In March 2002, the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Animal Heath and Animal Welfare (SCAHAW) published a detailed report on the welfare of animals during transport. The report concludes that the welfare of animals unaccustomed to loading and transport is significantly poorer than normal during the first few hours after loading. There is then some degree of adaptation, but after a few hours of transport welfare tends to become poorer as journey length increases. The report stresses that “Hence such animals should not be transported if this can be avoided and journeys should be as short as possible”. 616 The assessment of cattle welfare during transport The welfare of animals during handling and transport can be assessed using a range of measures of behavioural, physiological, biochemical, pathological and carcass condition changes. The frequency of injury, morbidity and mortality at the end of transport can also be measured and the magnitude of effects on previous welfare deduced. A variety of welfare indicators which can be used to assess the welfare of animals are listed in Table 2 (Broom, 1998; Fraser and Broom, 1990; Broom and Johnson, 1993, Broom and Fraser, 2007). Table 2 Generally used measures of welfare Physiological indicators of pleasure Behavioural indicators of pleasure Extent to which strongly preferred behaviours can be shown Variety of normal behaviours shown or suppressed Extent to which normal physiological processes and anatomical development are possible. Extent of behavioural aversion shown Physiological attempts to cope Immunosuppression Disease prevalence Behavioural attempts to cope Behaviour pathology Brain changes Body damage prevalence Reduced ability to grow or breed Reduced life expectancy An example of physiological measurements used to assess animal welfare status during transportation is the enzyme creatine kinase that is released into the blood stream when there is muscle damage (e.g. bruising) and during vigorous exercise; high levels of this enzyme in the blood plasma indicate physical fatigue. Not only do plasma levels of creatine kinase increase proportionately with the duration of the journey, but they also remain high for several days after transport (Warriss et al., 1995, Knowles et al., 1999a). Additionally, transport stress triggers an increase in activity of thyroid and adrenal function in cattle that is evident after even short journeys and continues to increase after long-distance transport (Fazio et al., 2005). Public concerns There is a widespread support for the protection of animals during transportation, mainly these ones of long distance. 617 In February 2008, Neil Parish MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, stressed that the transport of live animals over long distances “is not only cruel, but journeys of this distance are completely unnecessary. Slaughter should be carried out as locally as possible and meat transported on the hook, rather than on the hoof. It’s time we ended the outdated and totally needless suffering” (Parish, 2008). In a 2001 report, the Parliament went further and voted for a maximum limit of eight hours or 500 kilometres to be placed not only on journeys to slaughter but also on those for further fattening (European Parliament, 2001). The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) has also consistently been opposed to long distance transportation. The FVE position paper states: “FVE has always been of the opinion that fattening of animals should take place within or near the place of birth. Animals should also be slaughtered as near the point of production as possible. The journey time for slaughter animals should never exceed the physiological needs of the animals for food, water or rest” (FVE, 2001). The 2004 Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the welfare of animals during transport stated: “A variety of stressors involved in transport are key factors that strongly contribute to poor welfare in transported animals and they also increase the susceptibility to infection of transported animals and the shedding of infectious agents in already infected animals. …Transport should therefore be avoided wherever possible and journeys should be as short as possible” (EFSA, 2004). It is widely accepted that the training for any person handling animals has a significan effect on the ways in which people manage animals. People may hit animals and cause substantial pain and injury beacause of selfish financial considerations, or because they do not consider that the animals are subject to pain and stress due to the lack of knowledge about animals and their welfare (Broom, 2003). Recent research has been carried out by a survey involving 364 animal trucking enterprises, located in Northern Italy. The results show that the participation in training courses appears very limited or lacking. The majority of the people interviewed (66.7%) stated they had not followed training courses on animal welfare and prior to animal transport approval. The remaining 33.3% attended training courses organised by local health authorities or trade associations (Zanardi et al., 2007). Enforcement problems The EU legislation on animal welfare during transport has been widely modified in the last three decades to improve the protection of animals during transport. The last EU provision is the Council Regulation (EC) n. 1/2005, adopted since 5th January 2007. The Regulation identifies the obligations of all those involved in animal transport and related operations and introduces new and more efficient monitoring tools and much stricter rules for long journeys, including a substantial 618 upgrading of vehicle standards. Codes of practice, such retailer codes, can also have significant effects on animal welfare during transport. Due to lack of inadequate inspections and enforcement, there is little available data about accidents, infractions and imposed penalties. Despite lack of data, violations of animal transport standards evidently occur regularly, as shown by surveillance of animal transport vehicles by NGOs working for farm animal welfare during transportation. Their findings provide evidence of violations of allowable driving times, dirty vehicles and rough handling of animals during loading, unloading and upon arrival at slaughter plants. The following breaches of the legislation have been common for many years: deficient checks of journey logs; failure to give animals the rest, food and water; exceeding the permitted loading density; insufficient headroom; failure to provide water on the vehicle; the use of vehicles that fail to meet the legislative standards for journeys exceeding eight hours; the transport of unfit animals, and lack of certification for the drivers (Sossidou et al., 2009). References 1. Adams, D. B. and Thornber, P. M., 2008, Welfare aspects of the long distance transportation of animals, Veterinaria Italiana, Volume 44 (1), January-March 2008 2. Animals’ Angels, 2006, Trailing of an Irish calf lorry, 12/06/2006 3. Atkinson, P. J., 1992, Investigation of the effects of transport and lairage on hydration state and resting behaviour of calves for export, Veterinary Record 130: 413-416 4. Broom, D.M. 1986 Indicators of poor welfare. British Veterinary Journal 142, 524-526. 5. Broom, D.M., 1998, Welfare, stress and the evolution of feelings, Advances in the Study of Behavior, 27, 371-403 6. Broom, D.M. and Johnson, K.G, 1993, Stress and Animal Welfare, Kluwer, Dordrecht. 7. Broom, D.M., 2001, Coping, stress and welfare. In Coping with Challenge: Welfare in Animals including Humans, Ed. D.M. Broom, 1-9. Berlin: Dahlem University Press 8. Broom, D.M., 2003, Transport stress in cattle and sheep with details of physiological and other indicators, Dtsch. Tierarztl. Wschr., 110, 83-89 9. Broom, D.M. and Fraser, A.,F.2007, Domestic Animal Behaviour and Welfare. Wallingford: CABI. 10. EFSA, 2004, Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare on a request from the Commission related to the welfare of animals during transport (Question N° EFSA-Q-2003-094) adopted on 30 March 2004, The EFSA Journal 44: 1-36 11. European Parliament., 2001, European Parliament resolution of 13 November 2001 on the Commission report on the experience acquired by 619 12. 13. 14. 15. the Member States since the implementation of Council Directive 95/29/EC amending Directive 91/628/EEC concerning the protection of animals during transport (COM (2000) 809-C5-0189/2001-2001/2085 (COS)) – A5 – 0347/2001 Fazio, E., Medica, P. D., Alberghina, 2005, Effect of long-distance road transport on thyroid and adrenal function and haematocrit values in Limousin cattle: influence of body weight decrease, Veterinary Research Communications 29: 713-719 Fraser, A.F.and Broom, D.M..1998, Farm Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Wallingford: C.A.B.I. 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Stevenson, P., 2008, Long distance animal transport in Europe:A cruel and unnecessary trade, Report for Compassion in World Farming, June 2008 30. Tarrant, P. V., Kenny, F. J., Harrington, D., Murphy, M., 1992, Long distance transportation of steers to slaughter: effect of stocking density on physiology, behavior and carcass quality, Livestock Production Science 30: 223-238 31. Thielscher, H. H. and Steinhardt, M., 2004, Physiological reactions of suckler calves from a cow-calf operation exposed to transport and temporary separation from herd mates in winter stalling, Berliner und Munchener Tierarztliche Wochenschrift 117 (3-4): 88-96 32. Todd, S. E., Mellor, D. J., Stafford, K. J., 2000, Effects of food withdrawal and transport on 5 - 10-day old calves, Research in Veterinary Science 68: 125-134 33. Trunkfield, H. R. and Broom, D. M., 1990, The welfare of calves during handling and transport, Applied Animal Behaviour Science 28: 13 5-l 52 34. 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