Proper design of restraint equipment is essential to prevent stress on animals during handling, stunning and slaughter. A small design mistake which may appear to be insignificant to the engineer can be extremely detrimental to animal welfare. Operators of restraint equipment must be properly trained. Cattle will place their heads into stanchion (yoke) or chin-lift types of head-restrainers if they are gently moved forward by a rear pusher gate. Cattle confined in an upright ASPCA pen for religious slaughter will remain calmer if the apparatus is gently closed around them. The vertical travel of the belly lift should be restricted to 71 cm (28 in) — it should not lift the animals off the floor. The rear pusher gates should be equipped with a separate regulator to prevent excessive pressure from being applied. Stunning or ritual slaughter should be carried out within 10 seconds of the animal's head being restrained. The modified ASPCA pen described in the paper was seemingly humane when operated by people concerned about animal welfare.

UK legislation requiring pre-slaughter stunning has certain exemptions for religious slaughter. Supporters of both Muslim (Halal) and Jewish (Shechita) slaughter methods claim that the efficiency of the bleed out is adversely affected by stunning. In this study, electrical stunning followed by neck cutting, and captive bolt stunning followed by neck cutting, were compared with the Muslim slaughter method (neck cutting without stunning) in sheep. Total blood loss and percentage blood loss, expressed as a percentage of live weight, were calculated and compared between groups. In addition, the time taken to reach 25%, 50%, 75% and 90% of total blood loss was calculated and compared. There was no apparent difference in the packed cell volume levels between groups. Slaughter method did, however, affect meat pH and colour. The results show that the bleed out after neck cutting is not adversely affected by electrical or captive bolt stunning; nor is an improved bleed out achieved by neck cutting without stunning.

The aim of this study was to assess brain activity in lambs during slaughter without stunning and its correlation with heart rate (HR) and the absence of physiological reflexes. The index of consciousness (IoC-view®) assesses consciousness by an algorithm that analyses the EEG and gives an index from 0 (unconscious) to 100 (conscious). Eight lambs (Merino breed) of 20 to 25 kg live weight were individually restrained in a stretcher and three skin electrodes were placed at the level of the frontal bone. The electrodes were connected to the IoC-view®. Two additional electrodes were placed on the chest and the HR was transferred to a watch monitor. Recording time started 2 min prior to sticking to attain the basal IoC and HR value of each animal. During bleeding, presence of corneal reflex and rhythmic breathing were recorded every 10 s until brain death. Rhythmic breathing disappeared at an average time of 44 (± 4.2) s after sticking, ranging between 30 and 60 s. The corneal reflex disappeared at 116 (± 11.01) s, ranging between 80 and 160 s after sticking. Changes in the brain activity occurred between 22 to 82 s after sticking (52 [± 20.2] s). In five out of six animals the HR increased (177 [± 22.7] beats min−1) compared to basal values (139 [± 8.4] beats min−1) at 115 (± 97.5) s after sticking. Both brain activity and physiological reflexes revealed that when bleeding is performed, through a transverse incision across the neck without stunning, the onset of unconsciousness could last 1 min which impaired animal welfare. This prolonged consciousness compared to other authors’ findings may be attributable to inefficient bleeding when lambs are slaughtered without head restraint.