CARE-PIG | Handling of severely diseased/injured pigs | Which criteria allow to define the endpoint of life, considering veterinary medical and ethical aspects? | 2022-2025
![[Translate to English:] BMEL-Logo](/fileadmin/_processed_/7/6/csm_BMEL_Logo.svg_8fd9f38834.png){kind=logo}
- Funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
- Subproject management: Dr. Christin Kleinsorgen
Project team in the E-Learning Service
In collaboration with scientists from the Field Station for Epidemiology Bakum (AfE), the Institute for Animal Hygiene, Animal Welfare and Farm Animal Behaviour (ITTN), the Clinic for Swine, Small Ruminants and Forensic Medicine (KlKlKl) and the Institute for Biometry, Epidemiology and Information Processing (IBEI) of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover and the ISN-Projekt GmbH (ISN).
CARE-PIG aims to develop criteria for a veterinary and ethically responsible determination for the point in time when severely and incurably ill pigs should be killed.
Previous studies in processing plants for animal by-products, in Germany and Austria, have shown that dead or killed pigs often have animal welfare-relevant findings, which definitely give reason to take measures of improvement.
Illnesses and injuries to pigs occur in every form of pig farming. Despite intensive care and treatment, it is not always possible to treat the affected pigs. In order to prevent further pain and suffering for the animals, it may be essential to kill the affected pigs. For veterinarians and pig farmers, the decision to kill an animal is a significant challenge.
The aim of CARE-PIG is to make it easier for veterinarians and pig farmers to decide when to kill an animal by developing criteria that are easy to collect, are practical, valid and disease/injury-specific. These criteria should make it possible to safely assess the well-being of ill pigs and to make a responsible, well-founded decision about the killing of sick/injured pigs.
