Securing Animal Welfare in Times of Crisis and Animals' End of Life Outside Conventional Slaughter

At the end of their productive lives, most animals are transported to the slaughterhouse. However, there are unconventional situations that can prevent their delivery to the slaughterhouse. These situations vary from individual animals being unfit to travel, to emergencies such as barn fires or traffic accidents involving vehicles transporting animals, to crises where animals are not allowed or able to travel due to e.g. infectious diseases, reduced slaughterhouse capacities (as for example during the COVID-19 pandemic), and natural disasters like storms, flooding and fires, which are expected to increase in frequency and intensity with the acceleration in climate change.

There is an urgent need for coordinated efforts in preventing animal welfare hazards like transport of unfit animals, overcrowding, insufficient killing methods or neglect and abandonment of animals on-farm. Therefore, alternative and sustainable ways to dispose of live animals or ending animals’ lives need to be readily available for those involved (farmers, fireman, etc.).

Legislation may not be sufficient in unconventional situations and animal welfare risks may exist. Rapid and comparative animal welfare risk assessment of alternative disposal routes may aid in decision making that enables implementation and enforcement of the relevant rules involved.

The main objective of this Research Topic is to increase animal welfare research in times of unconventional situations in order to:
- Increase alternative sustainable ways of live animal disposal routes or ways of ending animals' lives
- Increase accessibility to applicable rapid and comparative risk assessment methods
- Improve swift decision making about animal welfare
- Improve the welfare of animals

This Research Topic will focus on emerging research which contributes to improve the current knowledge on the use of innovative ways to dispose of live animals or ending animals' lives in non-standard situations.

Research articles and review papers are welcomed on the killing and slaughter of (unfit) animals on-farm and in mobile slaughterhouses/ -units, and on how to deal with animals during emergencies or crises in a welfare sound way. Submissions may include papers that consider (comparative or rapid) risk assessment methods to secure animal welfare during unconventional situations.

Keywords: animal welfare, unfit to travel, infectious animal diseases, animal disposal, on-farm killing, mobile slaughter, euthanasia, end of life, conciousness, crisis, emergency, animal rescue, quality of life, sustainability, rapid risk assessment, comparative risk analysis, risk management, decision making, enforcement, policy

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.