Guidelines for the humane care and handling of food animals at slaughter

On this page

• Introduction
• Definitions
• Receiving of food animals at the establishment
  • PCP specification requirements for producers, catchers, transporters
• Slaughter establishment design - animal welfare considerations
  • Unloading facility design
  • Lairage design
  • Areas for animals in crates or cages
• Handling, moving and restraining food animals
  • Handling and care in lairage prior to slaughter and overnight as applicable - general principles
  • Ambulatory food animals - preventive control plan
  • Live animal receiving training protocol
  • Handling non-ambulatory and compromised animals
  • Stressed hogs
  • Moving and driving animals
  • Handling aids
  • Electric prod use
  • Acceptable alternative handling aids
• Handling of food animals in cages, crates and other modules (poultry and rabbits)
• Emergency contingency plan
• References

Introduction

There are factors that impact animal welfare prior to the animals being received at the establishment, such as primary production and husbandry practices on the supplying farm and transportation of the animals that are out of the scope of these guidelines.

However, overlaps of obligations will exist, such as during the loading and transportation that the licence holder can influence by specifying expectations for the humane handling of these animals anywhere along the continuum of handling prior to reception at the slaughter establishment. Examples of these overlaps of obligations are the care and handling of unfit or compromised animals, the handling of stressed hogs and the timely arrivals of the transportation conveyances at the slaughter establishment to minimize animal waiting times.

Additional references are available at the end of these guidelines that provide more details for recommendations of best practices in specific areas of care and handling of the food animals at slaughter.

Definitions

For the purposes of this document, the following definitions apply:

Animal behaviour

In the context of slaughter of a food animal it is behaviour typical for the species that would indicate stress due to pain, heat or chilling, as well as flight zones, points of balance, field of view, depth perception, colour perception, visual and auditory distractions, probable response to stimuli, prior levels of stress and handling experiences, individual animal variations and variations within species, dominance and mixing of lots, herding/flock instincts, social isolation, startle response, and principles of restraint (Comportement animal)

Animal welfare preventive control plan

A written systemic approach to humane handling and slaughter which is documented and auditable detailing procedures relating to animal welfare (Plan de contrôle préventif pour le bien-être des animaux)

Compromised animal

An animal with reduced capacity to withstand transportation but where transportation with special provisions is not likely to lead to suffering, injury or death. (Animal d'élevage fragilisé)

Crowd pen

A pre-stun pen that can be decreased in size to encourage animals to move in a specific direction (Enclos d'attente pré-assommage)

DOA

Dead on arrival. (MA - Mort à l'arrivée)

Establishment operator

The operator or legal entity granted a licence to conduct processing operations in an establishment that slaughters animals for food (Exploitant d'établissement)

Fall

A loss of balance, where a body part above the knee (carpus/hock) such as the shoulder or hip of an animal touches the floor (Chute)

Humane handling

Method of handling and slaughter practices that cause a minimum of excitement, pain, injury, or discomfort the outcome being to prevent avoidable suffering to the food animal (Manipulation humanitaire)

Lairage for slaughter

An area of the establishment (both within and outside of the slaughter facility) where animals are housed and held before slaughter, including birds or rabbits in crates or cages and encompasses all pre-slaughter facilities, including the:

• barn
• live animal sheds
• ramps
• chutes
• corrals
• pens and alleys, and
• holding facilities and feedlots

where animals are unloaded, pending movement or herding to slaughter. Note that crated animals are considered to still be in transport until they are removed from the crates (Installations d'attente)

Moribund

A bird or animal that, due to metabolic or systemic compromise, age, or injury, is close to death (Moribond)

Non-ambulatory animal

Means an animal of the bovine, caprine, cervid, equine, ovine, porcine or ratite species that is unable to stand without assistance or to move without being dragged or carried, includes the definition of "downer" (Animal non ambulatoire)

Pre-stun pen

A pen near the stunning area used to hold animals prior to slaughter (Enclos de pré-assomage)

Poultry

Birds that are farmed as domesticated animals and that are used for food (Volaille)

Restraint conveyor

A moving conveyor that holds an animal in the correct position for accurate stunning (Convoyeur de contention)

Shackle

An instrument used to suspend animals by one leg for red meat species or two legs for poultry (Étrier ou crochet)

Shackling

Suspending birds or red meat animals by a shackle (Accrochage)

Slip (vs. fall)

An animal loses its footing, and the knee (carpus/ hock) of an animal touches the ground (Glissade)

Spent hens

(also called "end-of-lay" hens) Laying hens that are being culled at the end of their production cycle. Because of their metabolically fragile state, spent hens are at increased risk for injury and death during transportation and while being held in the holding areas prior to slaughter. (Poules de réforme)

Stun box (knocking box)

A small enclosure in which individual animals are confined for stunning (Boîte d'assommage)

Stunning pen

A pen where animals are stunned, usually in small groups (e.g., lambs, pigs) (Enclos d'assommage)

Suspect animals

Food animals that are sick or injured or suspected sick, any animal showing deviation from normal appearance or behaviour and those suspected of harbouring residues. These animals are to be segregated and clearly identified (Animal suspect)

Receiving of food animals at the establishment

Receiving of the food animals that were procured to be slaughtered should be included as part of the specification requirements in the license holder's Preventive Control Plan (PCP). The PCP should clearly outline conditions of acceptability of the animals, including good animal welfare handling practices starting with loading of the animals, in addition to the condition and health of the animals to be loaded, unloading and housing of these animals. This will help the animals arrive at the establishment in optimal condition to undergo the stress of slaughter better.

PCP specification requirements for producers, catchers, transporters

• communicate expectations to producers, catchers and transporters (for catching, loading, transportation, and unloading, if applicable)
• define humane transport and welfare standards for the "supplier" (animal transporter), similar to any incoming product (receiving of live animals)
• recommend to collect letters of guarantee that specifications were met where possible, documenting the parties understanding of their responsibilities under applicable legislation
• provide written guidelines for transporters and receivers regarding unloading and handling, including expectations regarding compromised animals such as non-ambulatory animals (down on truck)
• provide poultry transporters and catchers with:
  • fitness-to-transport criteria
  • crates (if owned by operator) that are structurally sound, with no risk of injury to the birds and visibly clean even if these are not the property of the licence holder
  • crate dimensions
  • assistance in determining stocking density
  • expected time to load
  • means to shorten transportation times especially for spent hens and during extreme weather conditions
  • recommendations to minimize bird stress during loading especially protection during loading in extreme weather conditions such as, load early in the day to avoid exposure to summer heat
  • requirements for gentle, careful loading of birds to minimize injuries such as bruises, leg fractures/dislocations
  • protection against the elements during extreme weather conditions during transportation itself
  • provide the transporters and catchers with updates if plans change
  • emergency contact numbers
• schedule delivery to minimize animal stress

Slaughter establishment design - animal welfare considerations

• These should be designed to facilitate humane unloading, handling, housing, stunning, and bleeding of all the species and categories of animals slaughtered.
• These should be designed and maintained to promote efficient flow of animals and to minimize distress and injury.
• These should include suspect pens for animals held for further ante-mortem inspection that are located as close as possible to the unloading docks.
• Design requirements for cattle, bison, yak, horses, hogs, cervids, ratites, different poultry species and small ruminants are unique for each species, so facilities and equipment that can reasonably be expected to meet the requirements should be in place prior to commencing slaughter of a particular species.
• Slaughter establishments should have sufficient capacity in livestock pens (or holding areas) to ensure that animals can be unloaded in a timely fashion and are not exposed to the elements or conditions of overcrowding (including lack of ventilation on a stationary transport vehicle).
• The operator should write and implement an effective contingency plan which ensures that animal welfare is protected in the event that slaughter is delayed, slowed or stopped to prevent the holding capacity to be exceeded at those times.
  • When writing contingency plans consider/address:
  • suitable alternate locations where animals can be unloaded, slaughtered or temporarily housed with access to water or food if required (including consideration of distance, weather conditions, total transport time, suitability/availability of transport vehicles and biosecurity)
  • timely unloading of imported animals where temporary housing in other locations is not an option (i.e. those animals designated for immediate slaughter transported in sealed vehicles directly to the establishment)

Unloading facility design

The licence holder is responsible to ensure the unloading facility area has the proper design and protocol to receive the animals and that it is designed or adapted for the species to be slaughtered.

Unloading ramps and/or docks are designed and maintained to minimize slipping, distress, and injury. They should be sturdy, well maintained, drained, have secure footing (i.e. non-slippery, scored, or slats) and have sides that are sufficiently high to prevent escape or injury. From a practical aspect, the unloading facilities should permit the examination and inspection of animals when they are unloaded directly at the facility. There should be sufficient lighting in this area for properly observing the animals during unloading without causing the animals to balk or become agitated. For example, lighting should not cause shadows in the alleyways or races or reflections on water or metal that could startle and frighten the animal resulting in the animal refusing to move forward.

The unloading facilities should accommodate the types, widths, and heights of all transport vehicles used to transport animals to the plant.

The yard, dock, and/or ramp should enable animals to be unloaded without a gap occurring between the unloading facility and the transport vehicle(s). There should be no gap between the sides and the floor of the ramp that could cause injury or distraction.

Unloading ramps should have a level dock before the ramps go down so animals can walk on a level surface when they exit the truck. Ramp slopes and treads should be designed for the species being slaughtered. For example, ramp slopes should be:

• no more than 20 degrees for calves and pigs and no more than 26 degrees for adult cattle and sheep
• stair steps are better on concrete ramps than cleats or grooves
• for pigs, which have difficulty descending a slope, stair step dimensions of 6.5 cm rise × 26 cm tread (2.5" rise × 10" tread) are best^Footnote 1
• for cattle, 10 cm rise × 30 cm tread (3.5" rise × 12" tread) are recommended^Footnote 1

Lairage design

The lairage facility should be designed to enable all personnel to:

• observe, examine and/or inspect animals at any time without agitating or stressing them
• permit the segregation of sick or injured animals when required
• provide separate pens or areas for sick or injured animals where required
• isolate a compromised animal that requires immediate action to be taken to alleviate the suffering, specifically to treat, to stun or humanely kill it
• isolate a condemned animal to humanely kill it

The lairage facility, pens, gates and ante-mortem examination or inspection areas should be designed, maintained, and operated to:

• accommodate the species and class of animal (e.g., size, height, and behaviour)
• have sufficient space and number of pens to separate or isolate incompatible animals, for example:
  • groups of animals that are sick or suspected of being sick to protect the other animals from the sickness
  • different species of animals where these are incompatible
  • horses with shoes on hind feet
  • stallions from mares
  • any other incompatibility between animals or groups of animals
• to accommodate less domesticated food animal species (e.g., cervids, bison and extensively raised cattle) which generally require solid structures with solid sides and other methods to minimize their direct sight of people taking into account their wide flight zones:
  • elevated observation platforms or walkways may be required to effectively inspect the animals at ante mortem
• facilitate ease to move freely in the required direction, using their behavioural characteristics and without undue penetration of their flight zone
  • prevent baulking, promote one-way flow with minimum stress
  • minimal number of abrupt corners to negotiate and use curves instead
• prevent injury to animals
  • e.g., no sharp edges or protrusions;
• prevent escape
• enable secure footing (drained, maintained)
• reduce unnecessary noise and odours
• provide proper air quality, minimizing drafts, noises, dead air spaces, all which should be effective regardless of the season or weather
• provide protection from exposure to the elements, taking into account the origin of the animals, the season and how they are normally housed, for example for pigs:
  • because swine are very sensitive to high temperatures and humidity and have great difficulty to lose heat, provide lairage conditions in the holding pens of 15 - 18°C and 59-65% relative humidity^Footnote 2
  • provide facilities to shower pigs in the holding pens with water at temperature of 10 - 12°C, which will help control hyperthermia, reduce the mortality rate and aggression in them^Footnote 2
  • use a spray for the pigs that is coarse enough to penetrate the hair of the pig to set the skin; otherwise a too fine mist will simply increase the environmental humidity without wetting the skin effectively
  • provide sufficient space for animals to move away from continuous water sprays or fans
  • ensure that sprays are monitored to avoid causing unnecessary distress (e.g., avoid using sprays in very cold conditions or in very humid conditions)
• for cattle the environmental temperature should ideally be in the range of -10°C to 20°C and for sheep, between 15 to 28°C^Footnote 2
• provide holding pens designed to allow as many animals as possible to stand or lie down against a wall:
  • cattle and pigs, in particular, like to lie along walls
  • best practice: if all the animals were moved into one corner, there should be approximately 1/3 of the pen empty
  • the holding pens should provide sufficient space for rest, thermal comfort and to move around freely
  • the space allowance per animal is a more important factor than the group size to reduce aggression as does mixing of unacquainted animals in the same pen
  • there should be sufficient room for animals to move, stand, and lie down simultaneously with unimpeded access to the water supply
• provide feed troughs, sufficient in number and feeding space to allow adequate access of all animals to feed when animals are kept for more than 24 hours
  • the feed trough should not hinder the movement of animals or present a risk of injury to the animals
• provide drinking troughs designed and installed in such a way as to minimize the risk of fouling by faeces, without introducing risk of bruising and injury in animals
  • they should provide ease access to all animals, in terms of drinking height and numbers of drinkers per animal
  • generally, all animals should have easy access to at least two drinkers or drinking place

Areas for animals in crates or cages

Lairage for animals in crates or cages, such as poultry or rabbits, includes live storage shed, live receiving, yard, and place(s) where trucks are parked, pending unloading. The area where trucks are parked for unloading should be enclosed by a structure that provides protection from the elements, such as a shed.

Lairage facilities for animals in crates should be designed, constructed, maintained and operated to:

• be suitable for the size and species of animals that are slaughtered, taking into account the safety and well-being of the animals
• minimize noise (e.g. yelling, loud equipment)
• provide protection from the elements

The lairage facilities for animals in crates should have:

• sufficient holding capacity to ensure that the animals can be unloaded in a timely fashion and are not exposed to the elements (including lack of ventilation on a stationary transport vehicle):
• for poultry:
  • there should be sufficient capacity to accommodate the expected number of birds taking into account the production rate
  • the operator should write and implement an effective contingency plan which ensures that animal welfare is protected in the event that slaughter is delayed, slowed or stopped
  • since poultry and rabbits are very sensitive to high temperatures and humidity, effective ventilation at all levels in a crate or module stack regardless of season or weather should be provided during lairage
  • since the desired outcome is prevention of heat stress as well as cold stress with resulting death there should:
    • A design or system in place to minimize drafts that include a design to address the needs of animals in the centre as well as those on near the edge
  • There should be appropriate lighting:
    • to allow examination and inspection of the birds and rabbits during unloading and handling and for ante mortem inspection
    • in the case of live shackling of poultry, low light or blue-light is recommended to keep birds calm during shackling
• There should be facilities for the humane killing of injured and moribund animals in crates when individual animals are handled prior to stunning or live shackling

Handling, moving and restraining food animals

Handling and care in lairage prior to slaughter and overnight as applicable - general principles

The plant operator's written animal welfare preventive control plan should include:

• the condition and state of health of animals in lairage are monitored regularly
• animals are moved calmly to avoid undue stress, slipping, and falling
• competent handlers avoid rushing or handling animals aggressively
• lairages are adequately cleaned (consider: hygiene, comfort, air quality, food safety, bio security)
• incompatible animals are segregated and penned separately upon receiving
• provision is made to address the specific needs of lactating dairy cattle
• very young animals (e.g. calves 8 days or less of age) are be handled in a way that will not cause undue suffering, avoidable pain or avoidable distress
• animals born during the journey or in lairage are:
  • humanely euthanized or
  • the dam and offspring are placed in a bedded pen with water and feed containing no other animals as an interim solution pending a decision on their disposition
    • Note that the licence holder will require permission from the official veterinary inspector for removing the animal from the establishment
• animals held overnight should be placed into clean pens that are drained or that have sufficient bedding to absorb urine and have access to water at all times
  • animals held overnight may require bedding, water and food depending on length of time of feed withdrawal; also consider the management conditions animals are accustomed to, the normal group housing resting behaviours, food safety and biosecurity issues
    • Note that the licence holder will require permission from the official veterinary inspector for keeping animals more than seven days at the establishment

Ambulatory food animals - PCP

The plant operator's written animal welfare PCP should include control measures for:

• the species, size, temperament and category of animals slaughtered
• movement and handling animals should be done with a minimum of discomfort and excitement to prevent avoidable distress and pain:
  • minimize unnecessary noise and movements by the employees to avoid fear and distress
  • minimize mixing of lots of animals to avoid stress between animals from different social groups
  • select an appropriate group size when moving animals
• Management of transporter arrival times:
  • Unloading of most animals should begin within 30 minutes of arrival and completed within an hour to avoid the impact of heat and humidity stress during warm weather
    • Loads are scheduled to prevent line-up of trucks especially during extreme weather conditions
  • Unloading of rabbits in hot weather should begin within 15 minutes of truck arrival^Footnote 2
  • If unloading is delayed, animals more prone to heat stress such as pigs and poultry should be kept cool by providing shade and a combination of water spray sprinkling/misting and increased ventilation through fans
  • A short time solution may be to drive the trucks around to increase the ventilation of air to cool the animals:
    • For overheated pigs, use water sprays with large droplets and cold water but avoid drenching the pig with large amounts of water to prevent shocking the pig's system
    • Allow the wet pigs to evaporate for proper cooling effect using ventilation such as fans or moving trucks; otherwise the effect may be more like a sauna and become actually detrimental to the pig

Live animal receiving training protocol

In addition, the training protocol for personnel should include:

• how to recognize normal behaviours
• how important it is to stay calm around the animals
• how to recognize abnormal behaviours that indicate suffering due to disease, injury, signs of distress from exposure to extreme temperatures or any other cause of abnormal behaviour
• animals are evaluated for distress or suffering as soon as possible; for example, some signs of distress and injury include: animals vocalizing (note that animals will vocalize to communicate with each other which must be differentiated from vocalization out of pain, fear and distress), eyes bulging in panic, backing up, refusal to move, piling, struggle or panic, missing hair, bruising patterns
• identification and handling of compromised animals that are suffering and how to alleviate the suffering by humane killing or slaughtering as soon as possible:
  • ensuring that the CFIA official veterinary inspectors are notified that these animals were humanely killed or slaughtered, including those animals that arrive outside of the hours of operation
  • the license holder will keep records of these cases

Handling non-ambulatory and compromised animals

The written animal welfare PCP should include written training for establishment personnel to handle non-ambulatory and compromised animals both:

• on a transport vehicle
• in the establishment, both outside and inside the facility
• to handle compromised animals, (including stressed hogs), those unwilling or unable to move, and those that "go down" on unloading chutes and in lairage:
  • animals can be humanely killed where they lie or can be allowed time to recover with protection from stress or injury until they can move under their own power
  • these animals should not be physically encouraged, pushed, or dragged
  • when stunned for slaughter, the animals should be bled as rapidly as possible, even when they are stunned in the barn far from the usual bleeding area
  • at the same time, bleeding after stunning bovines must take into account the special considerations for Over-Thirty-Months (OTM) bovines because of the requirement to prevent risk of contamination of the area with Specified Risk Material (SRM)

Stressed hogs

• The desired outcome of the operator's procedure is that severely stressed animals are not stressed any further since these animals are at risk of dying from cardiac failure and in extreme pain.
• The PCP, especially training should address:
  • handling guidelines for employees what to evaluate:
    • the number of animals affected
    • severity and duration of signs will determine the most humane approach for handling the stressed hogs
    • In the case of a severely stressed hog, either ambulatory or non-ambulatory, that is trembling, has patching skin discolouration and laboured breathing, it is unlikely to recover and are to be humanely killed immediately
  • less severely affected hogs where recovery is believed to be possible can be allowed to rest to recover, for a period of time that is not so unreasonably long as to cause undue stress, while being protected from continued stressors, including physical interaction with other hogs, to try to keep them as calm as possible
  • a written record of the animal, the events and actions taken

Moving and driving animals

• Animals should not be forced to move at a speed greater than their normal walking pace, in order to minimize injury through falling or slipping.
• Performance standards should be established where objective numerical scoring of the prevalence of animals slipping or falling is used to evaluate whether animal moving practices and/or facilities should be improved.
• In properly designed and constructed facilities with competent animal handlers, it should be possible to move 99% of animals without them falling.
• Animals for slaughter should not be forced to walk over the top of other animals.
• Any person who is responsible for moving animals should be competent, patient, respectful of the animals and knowledgeable about the normal behaviour of different domesticated animals.
• This includes understanding the behaviour of individual animals and animals in groups such as:
  • the instinct for most animals kept in groups to follow a leader
  • the need of animals to control their personal space
  • the need to maintain a critical distance between the animal and the human handler, which is called the flight zone, dependent on the animal's previous experience and degree of contact with humans
  • the use of the point of balance at an animal's shoulder to move the animal forward or backwards
  • understanding the way animals see objects and movement because of their wide angle vision, limited binocular visions and poor depth perception
  • the increased sensitivity to higher frequency noises, constant loud or sudden noises
  • the increased sensitivity to smells
  • the instinct to avoid unknown objects or areas of light contrasts (e.g., light reflected in metal or water puddles)
  • how they may react when afraid

Handling aids

• Use handling aids to encourage and direct movement with minimum contact, never use any object to hit the animal and never use handling aids with excessive force.
• Implements, such as large sticks, sticks with sharp ends, metal piping, fencing wire, or heavy leather belts, are not considered to be humane driving tools to move animals and are never used.
• Whips can be used to create noise but are not considered to be a humane driving tool when used to hit the animal.

Electric prod use

Use prods:

• only to the degree necessary to assist with movement of the animals, applying the lowest effective voltage/amperage
• only in extreme cases and not on a routine basis to move animals
• only if the animal fails to respond or move and never repeatedly if it does not respond, in which case, it should be investigated whether some physical or other impediment is preventing the animal from moving
• at a maximum of 50 volts if using one hooked to overhead wiring
• preferably use battery operated electric prods:
  • battery operated prods provide a localized directional stimulation between two prongs
  • prods should always be kept in the off mode when not being used and put down to encourage its minimal use

Acceptable alternative handling aids

• These include panels, flags, plastic paddles, flappers, moving boards, plastic bags, flappers (a cane with a short strap of leather or canvas attached), witches capes, vibrating prods and metallic rattles.
• Vibrating prods may have a pointed tip and should never be used to poke the tip into the animal.
• All these handling tools are never to be used to hit the animal in order to move it.

Handling of food animals in cages, crates and other modules (poultry and rabbits)

• Containers in which animals are transported should be handled with care, and should not be thrown, dropped or knocked over.
• Containers should be horizontal while being loaded and unloaded mechanically, and stacked to ensure ventilation.
  • In any case they should be moved and stored in an upright position as indicated by specific marks to allow the birds to remain in a comfortable upright position.
• Animal handling equipment, including automated dumpers and conveyers and stunning equipment should not be operated in a manner that causes avoidable pain or distress.
• This includes the avoidance of dropping, throwing, knocking over or sending crates or cages down a slide with a sudden stop at the bottom.
• Animals delivered in cages or crates with perforated or flexible bottoms should be unloaded with particular care in order to avoid injury.
• No parts of birds or rabbits should be out of crates or cages to avoid injury or accidental decapitation or any suffering.
• There is an animal welfare risk associated with uncrating conscious animals that will be affected by the type of crate, module or cage used; for example, the open top drawer type crates are better.
• There is a certain degree of inevitable pain associated with shackling because of the compression of the legs of the birds; therefore there should be a minimum of force when shackling conscious birds and a maximum time for leaving them shackled while conscious that includes l minute for chickens and 2 minutes for turkeys.
• Live hang lines should be designed to prevent sudden corners, changes in elevation, movements or obstructions that startle the birds and cause fear and flapping.
• Delivery of poultry for slaughter should be scheduled such that they are not deprived of water at the premises for longer than 12 hours after which time they should be given a source of hydration.
• Hydration for poultry can include gel pucks^Footnote 3a
• Birds and rabbits which have not been slaughtered within 12 hours of their arrival should be fed, and should subsequently be given moderate amounts of food at appropriate intervals.
• Rabbits are adapted to extract water from their food; therefore if they are held for extended times in slaughter establishments, their requirement for water can be met by providing carrots or similar food source.
• Rabbits have fragile skeletons and strong muscles in the hindquarters which means they are susceptible to hind legs and vertebral fractures if handled improperly:
  • the rabbit's head can be restrained by gently grasping the loose skin behind the ears or support the chest with the other hand
  • always support the rabbit's hind end when lifting it and hold the rabbit close to one's body to avoid the rabbit from injuring itself^Footnote 3b
  • never lift conscious rabbits, or have their weight supported by, their hind legs or ears

Emergency contingency plan

The licence holder's PCP should include an emergency contingency plan that can be realistically implemented regularly reviewed and is kept up to date. This will be customized to the establishment depending on the set-up, design and geographic location. It could include, for example:

• inclusion of review of forecasted climate extremes or climatic events (snow or ice storms, tornados, flooding and other natural disasters)
• correct use of alternative power sources, such as emergency generators
• location of alternate holding areas for food animals including animals held in crates on trucks such as auctions or other slaughter establishments
• vehicle accidents plans, including emergency contacts and a plan how to get the truck upright as soon as possible
• good communication way to contact the transporters or alternative transporters in case the animals need to go to another slaughter establishment
• fire or other causes of plant shutdown protocol

This plan should also include short term emergency procedures especially for line stoppages due to break-downs of any equipment required for slaughter or employee problems. These emergency procedures may include, for example:

• procedures to deal with the live poultry on the line, or animals in the stunner (such as the gas stunner with poultry or pigs or electrical waterbath stunner for poultry) taking into account the most humane outcome to be achieved for these animals
• procedures to deal with stunner failure, including the use of a well-maintained backup stunning system or equipment (such as electrical stunning or captive bolt pistols)
• roles and responsibilities of employees during emergencies

Additional References

CFIA guidelines for an animal welfare PCP

Guidelines for animal welfare preventive control plans and self-audits for the slaughter of food animals

Evidence showing an animal welfare preventive measure is effective

General references for best practices for humane care and handling of food animals

World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH; founded as Office International des Épizooties (OIE)), Chapter 7.5, Slaughter of Animals

Dr. Temple Grandin's Web Page: Livestock Behaviour, Design of Facilities and Humane Slaughter

National Farm Animal Care Council Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals