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| CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS |
| TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2007 | |
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Environmental Conditions' Impact on Animal Welfare During Transport |
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Kevin ROBINSON
Senior Animal Care Specialist Mammal Department SeaWorld San Diego 500 Sea World Drive San Diego, CA 92109 USA
Tel:+1 619-226-3893 Fax:+1 619-226-3951
Originally from Cleveland Ohio, Kevin is a graduate of San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology. He has worked for SeaWorld for 31 years; 8 at SeaWorld of Ohio and the remainder at SeaWorld in San Diego. Kevin’s transport responsibilities included maintaining all transport equipment in San Diego; monitoring a Corporate Transport Equipment Inventory database; assisting with the coordination of various aspects of numerous transports, as well as accompanying the animals on both domestic and international flights. When not working on animal transports, Kevin is a part of the Animal Care staff at SeaWorld where he is responsible for health and care of many of the animals he transports. [ Back to Top ] |
“Meeting the Challenges
Kevin ROBINSON Senior Animal Care Specialist Mammal Department SeaWorld San Diego
Every animal transport has its own list of obstacles and challenges. Moving animals that spend most or all of their lives in water, or in extreme temperatures, creates a whole new series of obstacles that need to be addressed. This presentation will go over some of the details to consider when preparing an animal move that includes such animals as sharks, penguins, seals, dolphins and killer whales.
We will look at aircraft selection and how to make it a safe environment for our “extreme conditions” passengers. We will also take a close look at the transport units used to house the different animals on their journey and see how their design and preparation make the travel more comfortable.
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Gail A. Heidbrink, RLATG
President Peak Animal Resources +, Inc. P.O. Box 1504 Wheatfield, WY 82201 USA
Tel: +1 307-322-3610 Fax: +1 307-322 8127
Gail Heidbrink has been active in laboratory animal science with American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) since beginning her career at the University of Minnesota in 1966. In 2004, she was honored to serve as President of AALAS. She has served as a volunteer for AALAS in many capacities but a key service was to be a founder and first Director of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Management (ILAM). Gail was also one of the founding members of the Laboratory Animal Management Association (LAMA) and has served as President, Treasurer and Program Chair.
She has held research positions at the University of Minnesota, Emory University -Yerkes Primate Center and as Director of Animal Resources at National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine. She was a Principal & Co-Founder of Britz-Heidbrink, Inc. Currently, she is the owner and President of Peak Animal Resources+, Inc. She is a graduate of ILAM and Professional Management for Zoological Parks and Aquariums from NCSU.
Gail is a recipient of several awards, including the Ralston Purina Animal Technician of the Year, George Collins Award (AALAS, for animal technology), Joseph Garvey Award (AALAS for Management & Administration), U. Kristina Stephens Award (LAMA for meritorious service) and the Charles River Medallion. [ Back to Top ] |
“An Inside Look at a
Ventilated
Gail HEIDBRINK, RTLATG President Peak Animal Resources +, Inc.
The safe transport of animals from the primary animal care facility to other laboratories or facilities is normally flawed due to the transport containers. Typically, animals are removed from primary housing units, such as HEPA filtered ventilated cages, and transported in cages with minimal filter coverage, cardboard food containers or even foam coffee cups. Thus, the animals and the personnel surrounding the transported animals are exposed to dander and environmental variables.
The animals that were in a controlled HEPA filtered environment are no longer the same quality animal after transport. Additionally, research personnel have difficulty finding appropriate materials to “cover” the animals and hide them from visual exposure to the public.
This presentation will review the development of a safe, battery powered transport system that will maintain the animals in a HEPA filtered, ventilated environment from point to point. The animals can be maintained in their barrier state during transport and will be discreetly screened from the public view.
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Dr. Mateus PARANHOS DA COSTA
Assistant Professor Department of Animal Science São Paulo State University - UNESP Via de Acesso Dr. Paulo Donato Castellane km 5 Departamento de Zootecnia - FCAV/UNESP Jaboticabal-SP 14884-900 Brazil
Tel: +55 16 3209-2678 Fax: +55 16 3202-4275 wwv.unesp.br/ www grupoetco.org.br
Dr. Paranhos de Costa has been working at the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) since 1986. He has a Masters Degree in Animal Science a Doctorate in Psichobiology and a Post Doctorate in Animal Welfare. His lines of research include; Animal Production, Farm Animal Welfare and Applied Ethology. In addition, Dr. Paranhos de Cost has participated in numerous research projects both national and/or international in the last 5 years. A sample of the projects include; Behavior of the cow and calf at calving and its relationship to the calf‘s weight or death until weaning; Rational handling of beef cattle; Total quality principles applied to beef cattle handling. The number of Scientific Publications and books that Dr. Paranhos de Cost has published or co-authored are too numerous to mention in detail but the figures are impressive. Referred journals: total 42. Proceedings: number 181. Books, including chapters and editing: number 25. He has also participated in a total of 52 student supervisions. Dr. Paranhos de Costa has participation in the Brazilian Society of Ethology (SBEt)as President (2002-2004) and Treasurer (1996-1998). He has been a member of the International Society for Applied Ethology.
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“Livestock Vehicle Design
Dr. Mateus PARANHOS DA COSTA Assistant Professor, Dept of Animal Science São Paulo State University
The farming activities have outstanding participation in the Brazilian economy; the rates of agricultural growth have been above the average, even during low economic growth. Meat production has a prominent role in this scenery, particularly beef, poultry and pork.
In order to supply the meat market a huge number of animals are transported and slaughtered every year (45.4 million of cattle, more than 8 billion broilers and 30.6 million of pigs). The production and slaughtering of these animal species are regionalized, with prevalence of cattle in the Centre-western region, broilers in the Southern and South-eastern regions and of pigs in the Southern region. The biggest centres of consumption are located in the South-eastern region of Brazil. The great majority of the animals destined to slaughter are transported by road, in trucks. Most of the vehicles used for farm animal transport (88%) are not articulated trucks with three axles. However, it has trend of growth with the use of articulated trucks, with one and two decks, given its high load capacity. Usually, the load compartment designs (independent of the truck types) are not appropriated (narrow gates, no ventilation system and water is not available, neither for drinking nor cooling).
The Brazilian road network has more than 1.6 million of kilometers, being 1300 thousand Km of county roads, 230 thousand Km of state roads and 73 thousand Km of federal roads; the roads’ conditions depend on the geographic localization, but most of them are in poor conditions. The combination of the precarious condition of roads, long journeys and unfavourable weather conditions usually increases the operational cost of the loads transport, as well as the risk to generate extreme stress to the animals during the transport, eventually resulting in death. However, there is a positive tendency to improve the transport conditions of farm animals in Brazil. The government and the meat industry are interested in the development of strategies to improve the conditions of animals during transport, following the OIE recommendations.
There is a good opportunity to set up technical and educational projects to achieve this proposal. Our group is carrying one program aiming the improvement of farm animal welfare during pre-slaughter management; important changes in load and unload handling procedures were achieved, and some advances on the load compartments designs have been carried on. The results were positive, and better standards of animal welfare and meat quality were already achieved.
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Dr. Malcolm Mitchell is a physiologist by training, graduating from the University of Sheffield with a First Class Honours Degree in Human and Animal Physiology. His PhD was awarded in 1976. His post-doctoral studies focussed upon topics in both animal and human physiology. In 1981 he joined the Poultry Research Centre in Roslin to lead the Environmental Physiology team and in the same year initiated a novel research programme examining animal transportation with particular emphasis upon poultry in transit. At this time Dr. Mitchell began his collaboration in animal transportation research with Peter Kettlewell of the Silsoe Research Institute, which continues to this day. Their collaborative research programmes have combined expertise in animal physiology, physiological stress, environmental physiology and engineering and projects have addressed many aspects of animal handling and transportation. In particular the research has provided insight into as well as some practical solutions to the challenges of transport thermal environments and vehicle ventilation. The studies have examined the transport of many different species and the efficacy of the work in relation to practical applications in commercial animal transport has been recognised by a number of awards to both Dr. Mitchell and Mr. Kettlewell. They have published widely in the field and have contributed to numerous EU committees and working parties on animal transport and welfare as well as providing information to inform DEFRA policy in the UK. Malcolm and Peter have provided research findings that form the basis of European and UK Legislation and codes of practice relating to commercial animal transport. In 2005 Malcolm and Peter both parted company with their respective research organisations (Roslin Institute and Silsoe Research Institute, Malcolm Mitchell is now based at the Scottish Agricultural College in Edinburgh, Scotland as well as heading up Roslin Welfare Consultants and Peter is now with ADAS based at Boxworth in England. Dr. Mitchell is a regular participant in AATA conferences and has presented several papers at previous meetings. [ Back to Top ] |
“Legislation versus Science:
Malcolm MITCHELL, BSc., PhD., M.Biol, C.Biol Senior Researcher SAC
On the 5th January 2007 the EU Welfare in Transport Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 came in to force in all 27 member states of the European Union. This regulation has the specific objective of the “protection of animals during transport and related operations” and supersedes and replaces all previous relevant legislation in the EU. Whilst all the aspects of transportation practices and procedures and vehicle design and operation and personnel competency are covered by this regulation the rules concerning the thermal conditions in which livestock may be transported, in particular, require further examination and discussion. It is, of course, well recognized that thermal stress in transit can be a major source of potential transportation stress and thus increased mortality, morbidity and reduced performance of breeding or sporting animals in addition to decreased production efficiency and decreased product quality in livestock that are shipped for growing or slaughter purposes. Both heat stress and cold stress constitute potential problems in many diverse geographical locations and a body of scientific research is being compiled to define the optimal thermal envelopes for the transportation of different species and the thermal limits (both hot and cold) that should not be exceeded as they impose unacceptable thermal stress and thus severely compromise welfare. All responsible individual and companies involved in animal transportation acknowledge the necessity for appropriate and relevant legislation in this area and welcome sound regulations based upon good science. The current thermal limits included in (EC) 1/2005 and those in a proposed amendment to the Regulation could mean that the upper temperature limits for common livestock will be between 25-30ºC with the corresponding lower limits being between 0-14ºC (depending upon species and age of the animals). A tolerance of ±5ºC will be allowed but the overall range will thus be between -5ºC and 35ºC compared to 0ºC and 35ºC specified in (EC) 1/2005 at present. It is proposed that these temperatures shall be measured inside the transport compartment or container and the cumulative time spent outside the prescribed range shall not exceed 15 minutes in any period of 4 hours 30 minutes. It is not clear from which scientific findings the existing and proposed thermal limits were derived. The limits should obviously reflect the animals’ physiological requirement under actual transport conditions and procedures. This review will describe experiments undertaken in both commercial transportation conditions on actual vehicles and in laboratory based transport simulations where a wide range of physiological and behavioral responses can be measured and characterized and related to the precise thermal loads imposed. The findings indicate that the current thermal limits may not be appropriate for all animals and that livestock may tolerate a wider range of temperatures than those prescribed with little risk of unacceptable stress under some circumstances. Some of the findings suggest that further discussions and negotiation of thermal limits are required both in the EU and in other countries where legislation similar to the European model may be adopted in the near future. The review will emphasize the absolute requirement to base legislation and codes of practice upon sound basic science. =============================== Malcolm A. Mitchell1, Peter J. Kettlewell2 and Morris Villaroel3, 1SAC, Bush Estate, Penicuik, EH26 0PH, Scotland, UK and 2ADAS, Gleadethorpe, Meden Vale, Mansfield, NG20 9PD, England, UK and 3E.T.S.I.AGRÓNOMOS. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Ciudad Universitaria s/n. 28040, Madrid, España. |
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