OLDS, Alta. – When Temple Grandin toured an American IBP hog plant
recently, it was so quiet she thought she must have arrived during
lunch break. The animal welfare expert didn’t hear any pigs squealing,
gates slamming or workers yelling to move pigs up the alleys.
Then she saw the hogs walking through the chute quietly.
“They had fixed all the little details,” said Grandin, who was excited
about how calmly the animals acted.
Staff at the plant had removed the distractions that cause hogs to
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balk, lights were added to eliminate black holes and shadows, and
non-slip flooring was laid down.
“Details matter to animals,” said Grandin. She has spent much time in
slaughter plants fixing things that improve the efficiency and the ease
with which animals move without getting poked or prodded.
After 30 years of promoting good livestock management, it seemed there
was a breakthrough in the way livestock are handled.
“Sometimes I felt like I was bashing my head against the wall,” said
Grandin.
Animal welfare has generally improved since she became the scientific
adviser for the American Meat Institute and started working with large
restaurant chains like McDonalds and Burger King, Grandin said.
For example, in 1996 only 30 percent of slaughter plants had an
effective beef cattle stunning efficacy. After McDonald’s got involved
in 1999, 90 percent passed a welfare audit.
It boils down to the attitude of managers, said Grandin, who insists
facility audits must continue to prevent reversion to bad habits.
“It’s just been absolutely amazing, the improvement.”
But she also said more work is needed. A 1997 livestock council
declaration in Rome will continue to focus the world on the welfare of
animals, she said.
The council said animals are “sentient beings,” not just goods. An
animal is not a desk or a chair.
“The legal status of animals is definitely changing,” Grandin told an
Alberta Farm Animal Care conference at Olds College.
One of her measures is the “Chicago airport test.” What would 10
people, randomly sampled from the Chicago airport, think about an issue?
During a flight on an American airline, Grandin showed pictures to the
people sitting in the seats next to her of sows in farrowing crates and
sows in multiple-sow pens.
One-third had no opinion about the sows in farrowing crates. One-third
were mildly opposed and one-third hated them.
Crates don’t allow sows to turn around, said Grandin, who compared a
good sow stall to a business class seat in an airplane and a poor stall
to a seat at the back of a crowded plane with little leg room.
Most people were satisfied with the condition of pigs housed in groups
on concrete slats, but “sow stalls don’t pass the ethical test.”
