A survey of current ostrich handling and transport practices in North America with reference to ostrich welfare and transportation guidelines set up in other countries

Abstract

Appropriate management of an ostrich's exposure to stressors during preslaughter handling and transport practices can improve its well-being and product quality. Because of the lack of information about ostrich farming and transportation in North America and lack of developed Codes of Practice for ratite transport in Canada and the United States, the first objective of our research was to identify current preslaughter handling and transport practices of the ostrich industry in Canada and the United States, and to identify potential welfare issues based on the current practices. The second objective of this research was to review ostrich transport welfare standards and guidelines from Australia, European Union, New Zealand, and South Africa to investigate if those guidelines are applicable to Canadian and American ostrich production systems. Preliminary producer interviews, on-farm visits, and literature review information sources were used to design a producer questionnaire that was used to survey producers by Internet and mail surveying methods to identify existing ostrich transport norms in Canada and the United States. Based on the results of our producer survey and review of the transport standards and guidelines, we conclude that following factors are potential ostrich handling and transport welfare issues in Canada and the United States: lack of scientific information about welfare of ostriches during handling and transport; unfamiliarity of handlers and birds with handling and transport practices; not considering birds' social bounds, sex, behavior, and physical state in mixing them during handling and transport process; lack of an established specific maximum water and feed withdrawal duration for ostrich transport in Canada and the United States; lack of a specific vehicle designed for ratite transportation in Canada and the United States considering different physical body characteristics of ostriches compared with other species; exposure of birds to natural light during transport inside the trailer; overcrowding; and long transportation in Canada and the United States. Results of this research will contribute toward developing Codes of Practice for preslaughter handling, transportation, and slaughter of ostriches in Canada and the United States.

Effect of climate region and stocking density on ostrich (Struthio camelus) productive performances

“…Table shows the overall reproductive qualifications in studied farms, and the observed values were compared with the available literature. As no standard values for assessing reproductive performance of ostrich have been yet published, the scientific comparison of observed mean values on the parameters of available farms resulted quite difficult (Bejaei & Cheng, ; Deeming, ; Deeming & Ayres, ; Hollins, ; Ramos et al., ). Moreover, some sporadic information available in many countries may not hold true for the geographical and climatic regions of our investigated area (Iran).…”

“… Dzama, Mungate, and Topps (); Underhill, ; Şahan, Altan, Ipek, and Yilmaz (); Brand and Jordaan (); Ledger, Malecki, and Groth (); Bejaei and Cheng (); Ramos et al. (); Hollins (). …”

Effect of transportation distances, seasons and crate microclimate on broiler chicken production losses

“…Bruises on the carcass are considered an important tool to indicate animal welfare [23], and recording bruises (bruises data) can improve transport conditions and reduce economic losses on future cargo. Carcass bruises can occur during broiler catching or during transport, when the birds are exposed to social changes (such as mixing chickens with different groups from those established during the rearing period) [24,25] and to microclimatic factors that culminate in the crowding of birds in the transport crates [26]. Therefore, transport distance and duration as well as climatic conditions during transport can interfere with broiler welfare and behavior [27] and, ultimately, with their performance [15,28].…”

Morphological study of the midbrain tectum in ostrich (Struthio camelus) embryo

“…In the last two decades, people have begun to pay more attention to ostriches as a result of their great economic value. The ostrich breeding industry is growing rapidly in many places, including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, and China (AlNasser et al, 2003;Bejaei & Cheng, 2014). Birds have a three-part brain composed of segments for olfaction, vision and hearing.…”