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Armelle Prunier presents Poster 90 during the poster sessions in the Aula.
Session theme 7: Stakeholders' views on animal welfare
162
Poster 90
ATTITUDES ABOUT SURGICAL CASTRATION OF PIGS AND
ALTERNATIVES: VARIATION BETWEEN STAKEHOLDERS AND
COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO THE EXTENT OF THE PRACTICE
A. Prunier 1 , M. Font i Furnols 2 , A.P. Aouedraogo 3 , K. Lundstrom 4 , F.Tuyttens 5 , W. Migdal 6 ,
M. Bonneau 1 , M.A. Oliver 2
1 INRA, UMR 1079, 35000 Rennes, France
2 IRTA Monells, Girona, Spain,
3 INRA, Ivry, Paris, France,
4 SLU, PO Box 7051, Uppsala, Sweden,
5 ILVO, Melle, Belgium,
6 ARK, Mickiewicza 21, Cracow, Poland
Within the EU project, PIGCAS, the attitudes of stakeholders towards piglet surgical castration and
alternatives (castration with anaesthesia, immunological castration after vaccination against
reproductive hormones, raising entire males, raising only females after sperm selection), was
investigated in 24 European countries. A total of 472 answers were collected from representatives
of Pig producers, Slaughterhouses, Consumers, Animal welfare organizations, Veterinarians and
Administration.
When ranking from 1 to 5, the surgical castration and the various alternatives, use of anaesthesia
prior to castration was the preferred solution for all stakeholders except for the Animal welfare
representatives that preferred raising entire males. Raising only females was also well accepted,
being the 1 st , 2 nd or 3 rd preferred solution according to the stakeholders group. However, pig
producers gave very close ranking to surgical castration with and without anaesthesia and to raising
only females. Animal welfare representatives differed markedly from other stakeholders and
especially from the pig producers in putting more emphasis on animal welfare and less on costs and
eating quality. Immunocastration was the less preferred solution for producers being very close to
raising entire males but having an intermediate position for other categories. Comparing countries
where a significant percentage of pigs (> 20%) are not castrated (UK, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus,
Spain, Portugal) with other countries, the differences that were the most obvious concerned surgical
castration without anaesthesia that received a much higher score by representatives of pig
producers, slaughterhouses and veterinarians in countries where castration is the “rule” as could be
expected. Castration under anaesthesia was better scored by representatives of welfare
representatives from the same group of countries probably because it is seen as an improvement.
Finally, raising only females was much better scored by representatives of the veterinarians and of
the consumers in the “non-castrating” countries than in other countries.
Contact information: Armelle Prunier or email armelle.prunier@rennes.inra.fr
Complete address: UMR SENAH Domaine de la Prise 35590 Saint-Gilles France
Species: Pig