2026-04-17T02:37:25Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/requestoai:recercat.cat:20.500.12327/9022025-10-22T11:14:49Zcom_2072_4428com_2072_4427col_2072_487898
RECERCAT
author
Botelho, Nadina
author
Vieira‐Pinto, Madalena
author
Batchelli, Pau
author
Pallisera, Joaquim
author
Dalmau, Antoni
other
Producció Animal
group
Benestar Animal
2025-10-22T11:14:49Z
2025-10-22T11:14:49Z
2020-08-13
Botelho, Nadina, Madalena Vieira-Pinto, Pau Batchelli, Joaquim Pallisera, and Antoni Dalmau. 2020. "Testing An Animal Welfare Assessment Protocol For Growing-Rabbits Reared For Meat Production Based On The Welfare Quality Approach". Animals 10 (8): 1415. doi:10.3390/ani10081415.
2076-2615
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/902
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10081415
The objective of the present study is to present an animal welfare assessment protocol for
growing‐rabbits for discussion after its implementation in 32 farms from Spain and Portugal. The
protocol comprises the principles of Good Feeding, Good Housing, Good Health and Appropriate
Behaviour of the Welfare Quality protocols and includes 36 welfare parameters. Overall, the
protocol showed a good capacity for discrimination between farms, with scores ranging 44 to 82
points. The protocol seems reliable for the assessment of animal welfare after proper training of
auditors. However, for the criteria social behaviour and other behaviours, further research is needed
to ascertain if the methodology and times of observation used are appropriate. Some farms had high
mortality rates with a low prevalence of health problems, while others had low mortality rates with
high prevalence of health problems due to different managements of culling. The protocol should
be improved, to impede farms with high mortality rates but a low prevalence of health issues the
day of the audit from obtaining better scores than the second type of farms, by limiting the
compensation in key measures. The main points to be solved in the growing‐rabbit farms were: to
provide more space to the animals; register the number of animals culled accurately; change cervical
dislocation for another killing method and provide the farmers training in animal welfare.
eng
Attribution 4.0 International
Testing an animal welfare assessment protocol for growing-rabbits reared for meat production based on the welfare quality approach
info:eu-repo/semantics/article