• Treating animals in a humane manner is the right thing to do.

• The public is becoming increasingly concerned about how animals are treated. The treatment of downed, crippled animals has been an issue shown on national television in the U.S. and animal transport is a major issue in England.

• People unfamiliar with slaughter often ask, "Do animals know they are going to die" and "Are they afraid of blood."

• Anil and McKinsey (1995) report that pigs watching stunning and slaughter of another pig had little or no change in heart rate, cortisol or B Beta-endorphin levels.

• Observations made by the author indicate that the small distractions such as shadows, high pitched noise, and hissing air are more likely to result in excitement or balking than seeing blood or watching another animal being stunned. Cattle will voluntarily walk into a restraint device that is covered with blood (Grandin, 1994a).

  

  Shadows that fall across alleys, or any place where livestock walk will cause balking.

• The author has also observed that it appears that blood from relatively calm cattle has little effect, but if the animals become severely agitated for 10 or 15 minutes, possibly a fear pheromone is secreted. Other cattle will start balking and refuse to walk near the place where the previous animal was stressed.

• Research with rats and pigs indicates that there may be fear pheromones in blood and urine. Urine from a stressed gilt caused other pigs to avoid a feed dispenser and urine from an unstressed animal had no effect (Vieville-Thomas and Signoret, 1992).

Grandin, T. 1994 Farm Animal Welfare During Handling, Transport and Slaughter
Journal of the American Veterinary Association 204:372-377

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