The document discusses challenges and guidelines for developing effective animal welfare standards. It outlines that standards should: 1) Have a sound scientific basis and real welfare outcome; 2) Include requirements that must be met and recommendations to encourage improvement; 3) Be practical, cost-effective, and applied universally throughout the production chain; 4) Be verifiable through consistent auditing protocols and clear enough to not require interpretation. Standards should also indicate the severity and prevalence of issues, allow for corrective action, and involve stakeholders in the process. Compliance is necessary to remain in business.

1. Guidelines to Standards
The Challenges

2. Introduction of animal welfare standards
• Public and consumer pressure for animal welfare
assurances
• Wide range of public and private standards
• Legislation – Time consuming, minimum welfare
standards, variation
• Private standards – retailers and producers

3. OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code
OIE Code is the reference document for:
• Technical standards - The „Checklist‟
• Standard Operating Procedures
• Work Instructions

4. Standard and guideline definitions
• Standards contain “MUST” clauses
•
•
•
•
„must‟
„shall‟
„It is essential that…‟
„It is prohibited to…‟
• Guidelines contain “SHOULD” clauses
• „should‟
• „It is recommended that…‟

5. Australian Animal Welfare Strategy
Development of nationally consistent legal
arrangements, including standards for regulation, which will
be a part of future animal welfare legislation

6. OIE animal welfare standards
• Details specific provisions for restraining animals:
•
Provision of a non-slippery floor
•
Avoidance of the application of excessive pressure
•
Engineered to reduce noise (hissing/clanging metal)
•
Absence of sharp edges
•
Avoidance of jerking or sudden movement
• “under no circumstances should animal handlers
resort to violent acts to move animals, such as”
•
Crushing and breaking tails
•
Grasping their eyes
•
Pulling by the ears

7. OIE animal welfare standards
Restraining methods that immobilise by electro-immobilisation or
by injury - such as breaking legs, cutting leg tendons or severing
the spinal cord must never be used.

8. An effective animal welfare standard
An effective animal welfare standard should fulfil the
following:
• Improve animal welfare
• Include requirements that must be met
• Include recommendations to encourage continuous
improvement
• Be practical
• Be focused on outcomes rather than prescriptive
requirements

9. The challenges
• Necessary – sound welfare reason with a real welfare
outcome

10. Welfare outcome
Is the animal healthy and producing well? Is the animal happy or
is it suffering from pain or undesirable emotions? Is the animal
able to perform its normal behaviour and thus live a relatively
natural life?

11. Resource-based measures
Describe the animal‟s environment. Easy to develop and
audit. Compliance is not necessarily indicative of good
animal welfare. Used to identify risk factors.

12. Animal-based measures
Describe the welfare state of the animal. Can be difficult to
develop and audit. The best standards include measures
that refer to both the input and the animal welfare outcome.

13. The challenges
• Necessary – sound welfare reason with a real welfare
outcome
• Technically correct and based on sound science

14. Based on sound science and technically correct
Acceptability of a procedure depends as much on ethical
decisions as on scientific evidence.

15. Based on sound science and technically correct

16. The challenges
• Necessary - sound welfare reason with a real welfare
outcome
• Technically correct and based on sound science
• Applied universally - cost bases and throughout chain

17. Applied universally
It is important that the standards applied in-market are
consistently achieved in our own farms, feedlots, transport
systems and abattoirs.

18. Consistency with regulation
Animal welfare standards must recognise and if
necessary, integrate regulatory requirements - Consideration
overseas

19. The challenges
• Necessary – sound welfare reason with a real welfare
outcome
• Technically correct and based on sound science
• Applied universally – cost bases and throughout
chain
• Practical and verifiable

20. Verifiable
Auditing is challenging if animal welfare standards are poorly
written. Standards must be not be open to individual
interpretation.

21. Audit consistency

22. Audit consistency
The audit must follow a structured, consistent protocol and
involve the expert evaluation of the evidence.

23. The challenges
• Necessary – sound welfare reason with a real welfare
outcome
• Technically correct and based on sound science
• Applied universally – cost bases and throughout
chain
• Practical and verifiable
• Indicate severity and prevalence of an issue

24. Severity
MINOR
0-3
4-7
8-15
15+
GREEN
AMBER
RED
MAJOR
BLUE
(with BDP)
0
GREEN
1-3
AMBER
AMBER
AMBER
RED
4+
RED
RED
RED
RED

25. The challenges
• Necessary – sound welfare reason with a real welfare
outcome
• Technically correct and based on sound science
• Applied universally – cost bases and throughout
chain
• Practical and verifiable
• Indicate severity and prevalence of an issue
• Provide opportunity for implementation of effective
corrective and preventive action

26. Corrective and preventive action
Reference to acceptable corrective and preventive action
should a welfare issue arise

27. The future
• The influx of welfare standards is only going to
increase
• Stakeholders need to be involved in the development
and implementation
Compliance with animal welfare standards is
not optional – you will not receive more money
for being part of the process. It is the key to
staying in business

28. Dr Leisha Hewitt
Murdoch University
Leisha.hewitt@gmail.com