RT Journal Article
T1 Welfare of horses during killing for purposes other than slaughter
A1 Nielsen, Søren Saxmose
A1 Álvarez Sánchez, Julio
A1 Boklund, Anette
A1 Dippel, Sabine
A1 Dorea, Fernanda
A1 Figuerola, Jordi
A1 Herskin, Mette
A1 Miranda Chueca, Miguel Angel
A1 Nannoni, Eleonora
A1 Nonno, Romolo
A1 Riber, Anja
A1 Stahl, Karl
A1 Stegeman, Jan Arend
A1 Thulke, Hans-Hermann
A1 Tuyttens, Frank
A1 Winckler, Christoph
A1 Raj, Mohan
A1 Velarde, Antonio
A1 Candiani, Denise
A1 Van der Stede, Yves
A1 Michel, Virginie
AB Horses of different ages may have to be killed on-farm for purposes other thanslaughter (where slaughter is defined as killing for human consumption) either in-dividually (i.e. on-farm killing of unproductive, injured or terminally ill animals) oron a large-scale (i.e. depopulation for disease control purposes and other situa-tions, such as environmental contamination, disaster management, etc.). The pur-pose of this opinion is to assess the hazards and welfare consequences associatedwith the on-farm killing of horses. The killing procedure is divided into Phase 1(pre-killing), which includes the processes (i) handling and moving the animals tothe killing place and (ii) restraint of the animals before application of the killingmethod; and Phase 2 (stunning and/or killing), which includes stunning and kill-ing of the animals (for methods that require one step for stunning and another forsubsequent killing) or killing only (for methods that simultaneously stun and killthe animals). Three stunning and/or killing methods for Phase 2 for horses wereidentified: (i) penetrative captive bolt followed by killing, (ii) firearms with free pro-jectiles and (iii) lethal injection. Welfare consequences that horses may experienceduring each process (e.g. handling stress, restriction of movement and injuries dur-ing restraint) were identified and potential hazards are listed for all phases, alongwith preventive and corrective measures. Animal-based measures (ABMs) to assessall identified welfare consequences were proposed. During the application of thestunning and/or killing methods, horses will experience pain and fear if they areineffectively stunned/killed or if they recover consciousness. A flowchart includ-ing ABMs for the assessment of consciousness and death to monitor stunning andkilling effectiveness is provided. Additionally, specific practices deemed unaccep-table on welfare grounds are listed
PB Wiley
SN 1831-4732
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118227
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118227
LA eng
NO Nielsen, S. S., Alvarez, J., Boklund, A., Dippel, S., Dorea, F., Figuerola, J., Herskin, M., Miranda Chueca, M. A., Nannoni, E., Nonno, R., Riber, A., Stahl, K., Stegeman, J. A., Thulke, H.-H., Tuyttens, F., Winckler, C., Raj, M., Velarde, A., … Michel, V. (2025). Welfare of horses during killing for purposes other than slaughter. EFSA Journal, 23(1), e9195. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9195
NO European Commission
DS Docta Complutense
RD 6 abr 2025