The Impact of Pre-Slaughter and Slaughter Procedure on Animal Welfare and Behavior Changes in Cattle at Local Abattoir in Samarinda-Indonesia

Abstract

The aim of this research was to address the impact of pre-slaughter handling and slaughtering process on animal welfare and changes of cattle behavior at local abattoir in Samarinda-Indonesia. To investigate the influence of pre-slaughter and slaughter procedures on stress levels and cattle behavioral changes, 142 Bali cattle were used. The data were collected using the inspection form and statistically analyzed descriptive to describe the percentage of animal behavior changes during antemortem and post slaughter. The results showed that, at the pre-slaughter stepwise, the animals were falling down around 6.3%. On the flip side, after the post-cut the animals had been experienced and demonstrated a return of consciousness with a reflex percentage of straightening their heads and bodies of 57.0%, 82.4% of tail movements and followed with 69.0% vocalizing amongst cattle; it has attributed to improper handling before slaughtering process. Furthermore, lack of knowledge of stockperson on animal attitude and behavior also has contributed significantly stress and animal behavior changes on animals during interactions between stockperson and livestock. This research showed that the lack of application of animal welfare could be seen and measured from the behavior of livestock point of view at the Tanah Merah Slaughterhouse in Samarinda-Indonesia.