1. Welfare of emus during their
handling and transport
Deepa Raju Menon
Avian Research Centre
Faculty of Land and Food Systems
University of British Columbia
4th September, 2013

2. • Ratite
• Native to Australia
• Products:
Fat - Oil
Meat
Leather
Feathers
Eggs
Emu (Dromaius novahollandiae)
http://fancypigeonskerala.blogspot.ca/2011/11/end-use-of-emu-birds.html

3. • Long distance between
farms and slaughter facilities
• Economic losses
due to transportation
• Welfare issues
• Commercial farming
• Slaughter age
• No previous studies
Background

4. Objectives
• Identify / assess the current practices in emu industry
• Establish baseline concentrations and reference intervals
for physiological variables and behavior
• Effect of handling and transport on physiological
variables, meat quality and behavior
• Efficacy of an oral supplement (Nutri-charge)
Improving the welfare of emus during handling and transport

5. Experiments and findings

6. Experiment 1- Emu industry survey
• Managemental practices
• Transport
• Slaughter and processing
• Product management
• Concerns of personnel

7. Respondents
Total responses - 48
US - 29
Canada - 6
India - 13
--------------------------------------------
Paper surveys - 33
E-surveys - 15
Interviews - 8

8. Findings
• Non-availability of processing facilities
• Most emus were transported in the fall months
• Male and female emus were shipped together
• Unfamiliar emus were never mixed
• Emus run, slip, fall down and vocalize
• Stressed - collapse and die

9. Experiment – 2
Baseline hematological and biochemical
parameters

10. Experiment – 3
Emu transport study

11. Emu transport studies
Warm weather conditions (n = 24)
From Denholm, Saskatchewan
6 h journey, 15 h rest at lairage
Slaughter - Federal Abattoir, Lacombe, Alberta.
Cool weather conditions (n = 18)
A round trip from Denholm
6 h journey, 15 h rest at lairage,
Farm slaughter
A group slaughtered without transport (n = 4)

12. Supplement treatment groups
1). Given both pre- and post-transport (S-S)
2). Given only pre-transport (S-W) and
3). Control (placebo) (W-W)
Blood samples collected:
24 hours prior to transport
Immediately after transport (+7 h ) (Trial 2)
At slaughter (+15h)

13. Effect of transport
• Weight loss
• Increase in cloacal temperatures
• Injuries:
38 % no wounds or bruises
40 % bruises only
22 % small wounds

14. Effect of transport, lairage and slaughter
• Creatinine from 10 1 to 26 1 µMol/L (P<0.001)
• Glucose from 10.1 0.4 to 14.3 0.4 mMol/L
(P<0.01)
• WBC from 12.7 0.6 to 15.3 0.8 x 109/L (P<0.01)
• UA : creatinine from 19.5 2.4 to 8.4 2.4
(P<0.001)

15. Warm vs. cool weather
• Body weight loss (shrinkage; P<0.001)
2.1 0.2 vs. 0.6 0.2 kg
• Body temperature (P<0.01)
2.6 0.2 vs. 1.7 0.2oC
• Plasma corticosterone (P<0.001)
24.5 2.8 vs. 4.9 3.2 ng/mL
• Packed cell volume (P<0.05)
3.3 1.9 vs. -2.9 2.2 %

16. Supplement S-S group
• Significantly (P<0.01) lower CK, ALT activities &
creatinine levels
• Significantly (P<0.05) higher body weight gain
during lairage
• Significantly (P<0.05) lower overall increase in
corticosterone

17. Clinical indication
• Increased ALT, AST and CK levels
• Hyperglycemia
• Hyperthermia
• Heterophilic leukocytosis
• Reduced blood uric acid: creatinine ratios with
elevated creatinine
Exertional rhabdomyolysis

18. • Etiology - handling, prolonged chases and
transportation
• Pathogenesis - lysis of the muscle cell walls,
leakage of contents into the blood stream
• Characteristics - brain damage, intravascular
coagulation, paralysis and death
Extreme caution - handling and transporting emus
Exertional rhabdomyolysis /
capture myopathy

19. Experiment 4 - Emu behavior

20. Proportion of emus (n = 42) performing
each event during pre-loading handling
0
20
40
60
80
%ofemus
Events
Trial 1 Trial 2

21. Vocalization during handling
Recorder: R5-Roland Wave Recorder
(Roland US, Los Angeles, CA)
Analysis: Raven Lite Interactive
software, Cornell Lab of
Ornithology, NY
(http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ raven)

22. Sonogram - distress calls and normal
vocalizations
Frequency(Hz)
Time (seconds)
Female Male

23. Comparison between temperament
categories
Variables Units
Calm and
easy
Slightly
panicky
Flighty
P-value(n = 17) (n = 11) (n = 14)
Mean event
scores
3.0±0.5b 4.0±0.6ab 4.9±0.5a <0.05
Body temperature oC 38.3±0.1b 38.4±0.2b 38.9±0.2a <0.05
Total protein g/L 56.2±2.8a 52.7±1.1ab 48.0±1.5b <0.05
H/L ratio 4.5±2.5b 15.1±3.1a 8.3±1.0ab <0.05
Corticosterone ng/L 31.3±5.5a 10.0±2.1b 31.4±4.8a <0.01

24. Total handling time
Variables Units ≤ 8 min
(n = 14)
> 8 min
(n = 28)
P-value
Corticosterone ng/mL 15.1 4.7 29.3 3.4 0.02
Glucose mMol/L 10.1 1.0 12.7 0.4 0.03
AST IU/L 1022 577 2429 422 0.05
CK IU/L 6705 2249 15143 1642 0.004
WBC count X103/L 17.2 1.2 13.4 0.9 0.01
Effect of handling time on biochemical
variables

25. Effect of transportation on time
budgets for major behaviors
P<0.001
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Pecking
fences
Huddling Feeding Resting Locomotion Standing Pacing Grooming Aggression
%activitytime
Pre-transport
Post-transport
P<0.001
P<0.01
Behavior

26. Experiment 5 Emu meat quality

27. Carcass and meat quality characteristics
Warm weather transport
• Significantly (P< 0.01) higher drip
loss DL24h and DL5 days
• High pH - ultimate pH24 > 6
• Dark Firm & Dry (DFD) tendency
• Poor color stability

28. Association between driploss and loss
in body weight
0.2
0.6
1.0
1.4
0 3 6 9 12
Driploss(%)legmeat
24hofstorage
Loss in body weight at slaughter (%)
r = 0.66, P<0.001

29. Relationship between muscle L* and pH
25
28
31
34
37
40
5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0
ThighL*
Thigh pH 24h of storage
r = -0.43, P<0.005

30. Normal and defective meat
Regular meat DFD meat Myopathic meat
pH24 = 6.5, L = 33.1, pH24 =7.1, L = 27.3, pH24 = 7, L = 39.6,
a* = 12.2, b*= -0.9 a* = 11.4, b* = -1.4 a* = 19.5, b*= 9.6

31. • Fence pecking - separation from conspecifics
• Distress calls - signaling behaviour
• Changes in time budgets - stressful events
• Temperament categories - biochemical variables
• Handling time - biochemical variables
To improve the well being of emus:
• Habituating emus
• Minimal handling
Summary

32. Summary
Transport resulted in
 Hyperthermia
 Dehydration
 Metabolic imbalances
 Increased serum enzymes
 Altered immune status
 Incidents of capture
myopathy
Solutions
 Electrolytes and
nutrients supplements
 Night/cool weather
transport
 Better loading and
unloading techniques
 Minimal and careful
handling

33. Acknowledgements
Funding BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands,
administered by the UBC Specialty Bird
Research Committee
Scholarships Four Year Fellowship, International Partial
Tuition Scholarship, Biely Memorial &
Jacob Biely Scholarship
Emu producers Dwayne & Jennifer Harder, Dr. Bill Code
Lab Facility Lacombe, Agriculture and AgriFood Canada
Supervisor Dr. Kimberly M. Cheng
Supervisory Committee:
Dr. Raja Rajamahendran
Dr. A. L. Schaefer
Dr. David Fraser
Dr. Darin C. Bennett
Avian Science Research Group

34. THANK YOU