Animal welfare is a highly complex field encompassing ethical, economic, cultural, social,
religious, and political aspects of animal care. Farm animals such as poultry, pigs, cattle, sheep,
goats, and horses often experience stress due to demands for high production and pursuit of
economic gain. Over the last decade, there have been significant changes in the understanding
of animal welfare. The purpose of this study was to assess animal welfare in Slovenian
slaughterhouses and during transport. We developed a questionnaire to obtain information on
respondents' understanding of their work, knowledge of legislation, education and attitudes
towards animal welfare. General impression, animal behavior, animal health, slaughterhouse
equipment, environmental parameters and other relevant aspects were evaluated. We also
compared the results obtained from expert observation and the respondents' ratings of the
importance of each welfare parameter. The study included 6 red meat slaughterhouses and 4
poultry slaughterhouses. From each slaughterhouse, we interviewed one slaughterhouse (FBO)
employee and one professional livestock driver. The data were statistically processed using
SPSS and the mean values for each questionnaire parameter were calculated. We used the
Wilcoxon test (values < - 0.2 or > 0.2 were considered significant). We found that the majority
of FBO employees feel that they need more and/or better practical training. FBO workers
showed greater knowledge of animal welfare compared to drivers, but both groups were found
to lack knowledge of the law and regulations dealing with animal welfare. Disturbingly, drivers,
on average did not know that the presence of diseases affects the welfare of animals and that
most of the respondents were not familiar with the term biosecurity. The results of the expert
ratings are on average lower compared to the importance ratings given by FBO staff and drivers.
This means that they are aware of the importance of welfare parameters assessed, but do not
take them into account to the extent that they consider themselves. Based on the results of the
study, we conclude that we need improvements in practical training, increased familiarity with
the legislation, education on animal welfare and raising awareness of the benefits of specific
procedures and standards in slaughterhouses and during transport. This would lead to
improvements in animal treatment and enhance their well-being throughout the meat industry
chain.
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