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Pazotboum Arouna Ouedraogo presents Poster 89 during the poster sessions in the Aula.
Session theme 7: Stakeholders' views on animal welfare
161
Poster 89
FRENCH STAKEHOLDERS’ ATTITUDES TO SURGICAL CASTRATION
OF PIGS AND ALTERNATIVES
1 INRA
2 CNEVA (France)
A.P. Ouedraogo 1 , A. Prunier 1 , V. Courboulay 2 , M. Bonneau 1
Surgical castration of piglets embodies genuine welfare issues: it is painful and it entails painful
physical manipulations. However, this a routine practice now in the horizon of professional cultures
and national or regional traditions all over Europe, with the result that dealing with it in the
perspective of the animals’ welfare reveals to be a tough matter. This paper, originated by research
undertaken in the frame of a Specific Support Action in the 6th Framework Programme of the EU
and called PIGCAS (for Pig castration), aims at analysing the French stakeholders’ attitudes to pigs’
welfare in the frame of castration issues. Stakeholders concerned with the PIGCAS study include
pig producers (both main stream and niche producers), feed companies (including breeding
companies, slaughterhouses and meat industries, and wholesalers), administration (including
Government and Public bodies), Veterinarians (mainly commercial ones), consumers and retailers,
and animal welfare NGOs.
On the whole, when the opinion of the European stakeholders is considered, surgical castration with
anaesthesia is the best option for consumers, followed by raising only females. NGOs’ best option
was raising entire males and the less preferred option surgical castration without anaesthesia. For
the producers (main stream) surgical castration with or without anaesthesia are the most preferred
options. However producers’ (niche) most preferred option was surgical castration with anaesthesia
and raising only females and immunocastration the less preferred. The Government stakeholder
presented higher scores for surgical castration with anaesthesia and lower scores for surgical
castration without anaesthesia. Slaughter plants’ best option was surgical castration with
anaesthesia and immunocastration was the worst option. Finally veterinarians presented higher
scores for surgical castration with anaesthesia.
However, the smallness of the sample of surveyed stakeholders did not help much to get an insight
on the determinants of stakeholders’ attitudes towards alternatives to surgical castration.
Consequently, we are undertaking semi-structured interviews mainly with mainstream pig
producers and animal welfare NGOs (n=15) with the purpose of drawing an exhaustive picture of
the determinants and/or constraints which make intelligible the stakeholders’ attitudes to the
different alternatives to surgical castration.
Contact information: Pazotboum Arouna Ouedraogo or email arouna.ouedraogo@ivry.inra.fr
Complete address: INRA-ALISS, 65 Boulevard de Brandebourg 94205 Ivry/Seine, France
Species: Pig