The Art of Natural Dressage

Recent The Horse.Com Article confirms what we already know and I expect if scientists repeated this for cattle and sheep the results would be similar?

Horses Undergo Pre-slaughter Stress, Study Confirms
by: Christa Lesté-Lasserre
April 22 2010, Article # 16227
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That horses endure significant stress while waiting to be slaughtered has often been assumed. But a new study measuring stress hormone levels now confirms that theory, according to Italian researchers.

In the 45 minutes between removal from the holding area and stunning by captive bolt, horses' norepinephrine levels rose tenfold and epinephrine levels increased to 30 times the base rate, said Elisabetta Micera, PhD, researcher in the department of animal production in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Bari and lead author of the research. Plasma cortisol and beta-endorphins also increased, according to the study.

"This was the confirmation of an intuition," Micera said from her office in Italy, a country where approximately 200,000 horses are slaughtered for human consumption annually. "I could see the distress of the horses in the slaughterhouses. Horses are prey animals, and their adrenal medulla-sympathetic nervous system axes are dramatically stimulated by emotional and biological stress."

Micera's study included young male Russian draft horses that had been raised for meat production. Horses more conditioned to human handling might have different stress results, she said, but research would need to be carried out to determine those differences.

In any case, horses are social herd animals and are stressed by a disruption of the social order caused by chutes and lines, the study reported. Sights and smells at the facility also appear to evoke fear, resulting in raised stress hormone levels.

"The best method to reduce stress during the pre-slaughter phase is to enrich the waiting environment," Micera said. "Horses want to walk, and they need to be able to maneuver through sweeping, curved corrals in order to stay distracted."

Pre-slaughter stress could be improved through the use of humane handling systems, chutes, and corrals such as those designed by Temple Grandin, PhD, professor of animal science at Colorado State University, Micera said.

More information is available on PubMed.

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Susie xx
http://www.flickr.com/photos/piepony/

I considered citing this article, but found myself lost in sadness over it. I cannot get the picture out of my mind that I saw when we transported Altea home (she was slated for auction) and stopped at a highway rest-stop, next to a livestock trailer full of horses obviously going to slaughter.

The eyes of those sad horses peering out through those round holes in the siding still haunt me. And make me hug Altea with thanks that she came to us instead of being on that truck, had we said no to the offer from my wife's brother to take her.

Donald

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Love is Trust, trust is All
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So say Don, Altea, and Bonnie the Wonder Filly.