Summary
Transport can be a significant stress factor for livestock
and can result in poor animal welfare and economic losses. Quality
management measures are actively employed in fields different from
animal welfare and could be applied to improve the welfare of animals
and reduce the consequent losses during road transportation and
related activities Training and education of staff comprise one
possible measure, Web-geographic information system technology used
to monitor the true state of transported animals is another innovation
that promises major progress. With this technology, behavioural
and environmental parameters can be monitored and registered in
real time. The resulting data could be useful to control the transport
environment and the conduct of staff. Although some parameters cannot
be represented through numerical relationships, behavioural and
environmental measurements can be used in a risk analysis system
to minimise risks of poor welfare during animal transportation.
The European Union Joint Research Centre and the Istituto Zooprofilattico
Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo
e del Molise G. Caporale in
Teramo are working on an experimental project to prove the feasibility
of a navigation system for long road journeys as referred to in
Regulation (EC) 1/2005 of the European Union. Such a system enables
the collection of data on transported animals and the verification
that welfare requirements are being met at any given moment during
the journey.
Keywords
Animal,
Geographic information system, Quality, Management, Road, Technology,
Transport, Web, Welfare.
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