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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS |
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Dr. Vet. Med. Andrea Gavinelli Deputy Head of Unit Animal Welfare and Feed Health and Consumer Protection European Commission DG Rue Froissart 201
B1040
Brussels, Belgium Tel.: + 32 02 296-6426 Fax: + 32 02 298-1228
Since 1999 Dr. Andrea Gavinelli has been a policy official at the European Commission in charge of developing Community legislation on farm animal welfare in the framework of the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection. From January 2003, with the creation of a specific sector of the Commission competent for animal welfare he became Head of Sector. In 2006 he has been nominated Deputy Head of the Unit “Animal Welfare and Feed”.
Dr. Gavinelli is member of the Permanent Working Group on animal welfare of the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) and he is vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the “European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for farming purposes” of the Council of Europe. Since 2004 he is member of the Working Group on animal welfare in the framework of the EU Chile Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement. Prior to his current position, he was in charge of the negotiations and enforcement of animal welfare legislation and cattle identification in the Italian Ministry of Health, Rome.
The preparation of the European legislation implies wide consultation with experts from the Member States of the European Union and with major stakeholders. In the framework of these activities he has promoted the first web consultation of the Commission on animal welfare and recently the first European wide survey on the attitudes of consumers towards animal welfare.
In the Animal Welfare Working Group of the OIE he is having the role of representing the European views on the issue coordinating the positions of the EU members of OIE. The OIE permanent working group is entrusted to develop standards and guidelines on animal welfare to be adopted by the organisation like the ones on transport by land and sea and on the slaughtering and killing of animals adopted last May 2005 as an integral part of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code. He actively contributed to the organisation of the first Global Conference on Animal Welfare organised by the OIE in Paris (February 2004).
Dr.
Gavinellii grew up in Novara, Italy, graduated as a veterinary surgeon
at the University of Milan with a thesis on the behaviour of dairy
calves during the first 30 days of life. [ Back to Top ] |
“Better Animal Welfare
during Transport: Making Sense for the EU” Dr. Andrea GAVINELLI Deputy Head of Unit- Animal Welfare and Feed Health and Consumer Protection European Commission Directorate General The necessity that animal welfare is improved during transport in daily reality and not just in the statute book is an important priority for the European citizens. A Commission report of 2000 to the Council and the European Parliament highlighted the weaknesses of the situation since the adoption of a specific European Directive in 1995. Since 2000 several actions for improvement were done by the Commission, by the Member States’ competent authorities and the operators ranging from the animal handler to the owner of the transport companies. Since then Member States of the EU recognised the necessity for changing the situation regarding transport of live animals and succeeded in an approval of a new EU Regulation in December 2004. This Regulation that completely overhauls the precedent legislation will enter in to force in January 2007. Recognizing the growing importance of animal welfare in Europe and worldwide and the necessity to determine the future priorities for the Commission on long term, in January 2006 the Commission has presented to the Council and to the European Parliament the first “Community Action Plan on the protection and welfare of animals 2006-2010”. The improvement of the quality of animal transport is one of the specific actions included in the action plan. The focus will be mainly on improved enforcement and the monitoring of the welfare of the animals during transport recurring to highly specialised staff and new technologies. Transport of animals, in particularly slaughter animals is closely related to the situation in and around the slaughterhouse. Improvement of the slaughter facilities could implicate improvement of animal welfare. In 2007 the Commission will present a proposal to change the slaughter directive. Today and in the near future the Commission will face several challenges to improve the welfare of the animals further, but it will be the keeper, the attendant, the driver and the transporter who should take their responsibility to achieve the success and to correspond to the demand of the European society that is looking at animal welfare as relevant to other key social goals such as food safety and quality, environmental protection and sustainability.
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LONG DISTANCE TRANSPORT OF ANIMALS: NEW INSIGHT INTO AN EVOLVING ISSUE |
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Univ. Prof Dr. J.
Hartung Welfare and Behaviour of Farm Animals University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Bunteweg 17p
D-30559
Hannover, Germany Tel.: + 49 511 953-8832 Fax: + 49 511 953-8588
Dr. Hartung has been involved with a number of Scientific and Professional national and international Committees. These would include the following:
1. Member of the Scientific Panel for Animal Health and Animal Welfare, EFSA European Food Safety Authority), Parma
2. Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Ministry of Consumer Protection, Bonn/Berlin, Germany.
3. Chairman of the Federal Committee on Animal Welfare, Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Bonn/Berlin, Germany
4. Member of the Federal Committee for “Biological Health Hazards at the Workplace” (ABAS), Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Berlin, Germany
5. Chairman of the Committee “Effects of Air Pollutants on Animals” in the Commission of Air Pollution Prevention in VDI and DIN, (Kommission Reinhaltung der Luft (KRdL)
Dr. Hartung is also the Chief-Editor of the Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift (DTW), German Veterinary Journal
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“Welfare and Health
During
Prof. Dr. J. HARTUNG
The effects of long transports on animals (longer than 8 h) belong to the most controversially discussed animal welfare topics in public of the last decade. The main reasons for concern are: (1) Poor animal health and welfare. (2) Poor meat quality. (3) Inadequate pre-transport and transport conditions which can result in disease, injury and reduced performance. (4) Spread of infectious diseases among the animals on a transport vehicle or a place of rest. (5) Risk of transmission of infectious diseases over large distances, e.g. FMD. The new EU Transport Regulation No. 1/2005 of 22 Dec. 2004 on “the protection of animals during transport and related operations”, which will apply from 05 Jan. 2007, attempts to address some of the concerns mentioned above. Although the Regulation is recognised to have great potential to improve welfare and health of transported animals, it will also increase administrative work. A serious drawback of the Regulation is the fact that it does not abolish the unloading of e.g. cattle on long transports to rest for 24 h at staging points, so that the concomitant risk to health and welfare remain, as do the opportunities for the transmission of infectious diseases at these stations. This paper reports about some recent research results in cattle transport showing physiological (heart rate), biochemical (cortisol) and behavioural responses of cattle (bulls, heifers, steers) during long transport and gives recommendations for future improvements. The welfare of the animals is limited by their needs not by a fixed maximum transport time, if vehicle and transport conditions are appropriate. Bulls, steers and heifers are reacting differently on transport. Heifers can develop an energy deficit after 6 h of transport. There is a considerable need for more research to close significant gaps in our knowledge, for example concerning optimal journey times, resting schemes, food and water supply, environmental factors such as vibration, motion, light and ventilation requirements in different European geographical regions. The same applies for the epidemiological aspects of the prevention of disease transmission by bacterial and particulate emissions of the animal transport vehicles which travel across Europe. More cooperative research should be carried out in veterinary and animal science and engineering in order to further adapt the legal regulations to the needs of the animals for the sake of animal’s health and welfare during transport.
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Al Schaefer was born in Red Deer Alberta and spent the first 18 years of life on a family farm in Alberta. He attended the University of Alberta beginning in 1970 and obtained a Bachelor of Physical Education (1974), Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) in 1976 and a Masters of Science (Animal Science) in 1979. He attended the University of British Columbia in 1979 and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Animal Science in 1984. In 1984-85 he was awarded an NSERC Post Doctoral Fellowship and studied with the Growth Physiology Group at Ruakura, New Zealand.
On returning to Canada in 1985 he joined the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada staff at the Lacombe Research Centre. Research interests include growth physiology and the impact of stress on animal growth, meat quality and welfare. Dr. Schaefer has also investigated the use of non-invasive stress detection methods such as infrared thermography. He has served on executive and editorial positions with the Canadian Society of Animal Science and is an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. Personal interests include hockey, judo, canoeing, mountain climbing and skiing.
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“Research Finding New
Technology That
Dr. A. L. SCHAEFER Livestock used in agriculture have a superb ability to cope with stressors. For example, one of the stress coping mechanisms livestock possess is referred to as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal or HPA system and when activated, facilitates among other things the provision of energy required to survive in particularly acute stressful situations. The problem in today’s context is that this mechanism evolved in animals millions of years ago to cope with the stressors presented to the animals at the time. By contrast, the stressors we expose animals to today in modern agriculture, such as long distance transport, are comparatively novel to the animals and as a result, we all too often over challenge the coping strategies animals have. Or perhaps, as some may refer to perceive the situation, livestock do not have the capability to respond adequately to modern stressors. At the same time, long distance transport of domestic livestock is a reality for many countries especially as management facilities and processing facilities become more rationalized. In the interests of animal welfare and in the interests of the economic sustainability of the animal industries, the challenge for the livestock industries thus is how to measure and how to mitigate stress in long distance transported animals. In this regard, increasingly, the use of non invasive tools including thermal cameras, salivary analysis and ethology assessment is proving valuable to monitor and quantify stress in animals. In terms of
mitigating the stress of long distance transport, revising our thinking
about feed-water and rest requirements (both quantitatively and
qualitatively), utilizing specialized transport vehicles equipped for
improved provision of animals during long distance transport and even
managing the animals mental state during transport are a few of the
emerging concepts being investigated. The purpose of the current
presentation will be to discuss and present data on these subjects. C. Bench1, M.A. Shah2,
K. Schwartzkopf-Genswein2, J. Aalhus1, N. Cook3, and G. Doonan4 |
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Secretary Saveetra P.O. Box 3008
2700 KS
Zoetermeer Tel: +31 79 3636 2589
Fax: +31
79 363 6280 1990 – 1995: Environmental Sciences (Environmental Technology) on the Higher Agricultural School. 1995 - 1998 : Implementation of schemes for quality, safety and environment an support with compliance with legislation at a small waste transport company that also works with big sweeping machines for construction of roads and cleaning of streets. 1998 – 1999 : Counsellor for the TLN members in the south west of the Netherlands with Transport en Logistiek Nederland (TLN), a Dutch Employers Association on Transport and Logistics. 1999 – 2000 : Secretary for the TLN members that collect and transport waste. 2001 – 2006: Secretary the animal transporters (Saveetra) and the transporters of raw milk with Transport en Logistiek Nederland.
Activities: · Lobby (national and international. For instance the lobby for a effective new Transport Regulation in the EU) · The campaign to improve the image of animal transport · The quality scheme in animal transport · Contacts with other animal transport organisations (like the AATA and ELT. I am secretary of ELT) · Supply of relevant information to our members · Press contacts on animal transport. · Various projects: The goals of Saveetra are mainly based on compliance with legislation. The activities are focussed on creating en environment in which good animal transporters can perform their work in a normal way, but animal transporters that make money out of violation of animal welfare or animal health should be sanctioned severely. The industry has a joint responsibility to create this environment. [ Back to Top ] |
Ms. Debby
VAN SON
For this reason the solution must be sought in improved enforcement. To prevent that the costs for the enforcement will increase, it is necessary to implement and enforce the legislation in a intelligently. During the speech, possibilities for improved enforcement will be presented. The following possible ways will be discussed: The future satellite navigation system: As from 2007 all new vehicles for long distance transport of animals must be provided with a satellite navigation system. This system can only lead to effective enforcement if it meets a number of requirements. The European Commission has presented their first proposal for the implementation of the satellite navigation system. We wonder if this proposal will lead to the desired aim, namely the improvement of enforcement. And what can the sector do with the data that is collected with the system? International enforcement: The trade in and the transport of animals is more and more an international market. Many animals cross the border. The competent authority is only authorized on their own territory. There is a risk that infringements of legislation therefore will take place especially in those countries where the enforcement on the transport of animals has a low priority. For this reason international enforcement is necessary. Administrative penalties: The new regulation for animal transport requires that every transporter has a license, every vehicle for the transport of animals has been approved and every driver has been certified. But what are the options for the competent authority if a company does not comply with legislation? Member States must make agreements concerning the way in which licenses, approvals and certificates will be withdrawn. Chain liability: With a number of infringements can be stated that the shipper/exporter is also responsible for the infringement. For example, overloaded transports that where loaded at assembly centres, or discharging on too many locations. Of course, the transporter that agrees with this violation must be sanctioned. But if only the transporter is punished, the stimulation of the shipper/exporter will not be removed. He is generally the only one who has the financial benefit and not the transporter. For this reason in those cases also the shipper/exporter must be sanctioned. Of course also quality schemes can be used to improve the compliance. Because this option is discussed during the speech on Tuesday 25 April 2006, these are not discussed here.
Advantages by
means of quality schemes in the animal transport: Many
animal transporters worldwide do their work in a responsible way and
they are glad to show that to the world. Mostly quality schemes are used
to show the public, government or industry that the company is
responsible and the quality of the service is high. But quality systems
always cost money and an animal transporter always remains an
entrepreneur. Are the costs compensated by sufficient income? During the
introduction suggestions are done how a good quality system in the
animal transport can lead to profit. The European
Livestock Transporters are in favour of a European quality system as a
means to improving the competitive position of the participants. But
this is only possible if an agreement can be made concerning the
differences between participants and non- participants. The sector must
initiate these agreements themselves to prevent a European quality
system in the animal transport from becoming a disappointment. But if
these agreements can be made it will lead to a stronger sector. |
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