Influence of gas stunning and halal slaughter (no stunning) on rabbits welfare indicators and meat quality

Abstract

Animals may be at great risk of fear during the procedures that take them to new situations, such as pre-slaughter handling, which implies an important additional stress (Duncan, 2004). It is important to note that each animal perceives, at slaughter, several signals of danger, such as odours, sights and sounds. In fact for these animals, vision, audition, and particularly olfaction constitute a very rich perceptive universe which is used to regulate social and sexual behaviours and to ensure the survival in dangerous situations (Micera, Albrizio, Surdo, Moramarco, & Zarrilli, 2010). In order to determine the changes produced a few seconds after receiving the stimulus, as is the case at the moment prior to slaughter, it is important to evaluate the changes produced within the sympathetic-adrenomedullary system, with the liberation of catecholamines to the bloodstream.