Avaliação do bem-estar animal nas operações de insensibilização e sangria de bovídeos em abatedouros no Amazonas, Brasil

Abstract

The procedure for slaughtering cattle has been changing and modernizing over the years in order to satisfy a consumer market increasingly concerned with animal welfare and sustainable development. The objective of this work was to evaluate animal welfare in the stages of insensitization and bleeding in three slaughterhouses in the metropolitan region of Manaus-AM. The slaughter of 300 cattle, with different age groups, races and sexes, was followed, where the efficiency of the stunning was considered, according to the number of shots of the pneumatic gun per animal, and the monitoring of the intervals of the following times: between insensitization and bleeding, between the beginning of bleeding and the cutting of legs, and the permanence of the animals in the bleeding gutter. When considering each flock with 100 animals, the percentage of insensitized individuals with only one shot was between 27% and 67%, conferring the classification of a serious problem in the three evaluated establishments. The average time between insensitization and bleeding oscillated between 1 min and 10 s and 2 min 52 s. In the analyses made in the trough, only the slaughterhouse 2 respected the minimum time of bleeding, of 3 min, being that in the other two places visited, it was observed the accomplishment of mutilations in the still alive animals. The average time the animals stayed in the trough varied from 2 min and 34 s to 4 min and 54 s. The unsatisfactory results found in the slaughterhouses reveal that they do not have a humanitarian slaughter plan, causing unnecessary suffering to the animals during this procedure. Therefore, it is extremely important to emphasize the need for training of employees on the subject and changes in infrastructure to obtain better rates of animal welfare and consequently better quality meat.