TROUBLED WATERS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

include levels of premature mortality or lameness. Indicators can measure the overall performance ofa system. However, the performance will be influenced by both the determinants built into thesystem, and the level of human management skill applied to it. In other words, determinants definethe welfare potential of the system, and the human operators influence the level to which thatpotential is achieved.The classic example of a farming system with the potential for poor welfare is the battery cage for egglaying hens. The cramped and barren environment of the cage does not allow for all the birds’physical and behavioural needs. The birds suffer as a result (Appleby, 1991). The restrictive nature ofthe battery cage is an inherent part of the system. The battery cage is therefore a system with lowwelfare potential. No matter how much stockmanship and care is applied to the birds in the system,their welfare is likely to remain poor.A free-range layer system, however – with its space and enriched environment – has a high welfarepotential. If stockmanship levels are poor or neglectful, then the birds may suffer. Similarly, a badlydesigned unit could also negatively affect the birds’ welfare. However, as the problems are not aninherent part of the system, they can be adjusted or improved. Design or husbandry problems inthese free-range-type systems can more effectively be addressed, allowing the full welfare potential ofthe system to be achieved.94A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING ACTIVITIESThe same determinant-based methodology for assessing the welfare potential of a husbandry systemcan be applied to slaughter practices. The Farm Animal Welfare Council, the UK governmentadvisory body on welfare, identified the basic principles that must be observed when specificallyaddressing the welfare of animals at slaughter (FAWC, 2003). These principles, the determinants ofhigh welfare methodology, are:• pre-slaughter handling facilities which minimise stress;• use of competent well trained, caring personnel;• appropriate equipment which is fit for the purpose;• an effective process which induces immediate unconsciousness and insensibility, or an inductionto a period of unconsciousness without distress; and• guarantee of non-recovery from that process until death ensues.These principles can be used to compare the welfare potential of humane livestock slaughter practiceswith current whale killing practices.Pre-slaughter handling facilities which minimise stressOnce livestock animals arrive at the slaughterhouse, best practice is to unload them immediately intoa holding area or ‘lairage’. Here, the animals can be fed, watered, rested and subject to veterinaryinspection before slaughter. Any animal found to have experienced pain or suffering during transportor following arrival at the slaughterhouse must be slaughtered immediately (MAFF, 1995). In theEuropean Union, for example, it is a fundamental legal requirement that animals must not besubjected to any avoidable excitement, pain or suffering (EU, 1993).In whaling operations, unrestrained whales are pursued by boat. Hunting methods vary. For example,Norwegian whalers attempt to position their boats where the whale is estimated to surface, althoughanimals can be chased for up to six hours (chapter 9). Pursuit before killing is likely to subject the