Valutazione dello stress in ovini trasportati, stabulati e macellati secondo rito islamico

In Italy the consumption of sheep meat, and the resulting turnover of this market, is mainly related to the community of Muslim faith. The way in which an animal is slaughtered during religious slaughter, rises several discussions due to the absence of stunning during the ritual. Purpose - The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of stress of 40 lambs coming from Romania, slaughtered with Islamic ritual 11 days after their arrival at a slaughterhouse near Lodi. Materials and methods - Forty Turkana lambs were randomly selected from a herd of 550 animals coming from Romania. Blood samples were collected at arrival (T0), 7 days after the arrival (T1) and at the time of slaughtering (T2, 11 days after the arrival). Many blood-biochemical parameters were considered: erythrocytes number (RBC) and leukocytes number (WBC), hematocrit (PVC), hemoglobin (HB), albumin, total proteins (TP), urea, creatinine (CREA), aspartate amino transferase (AST), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), creatine phospho-kinase (CPK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lactate ion, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), beta-hydroxybutyrate and cortisol. Results and discussion - During slaughtering (T2) cortisol concentration was lower than that found immediately after the trip (T0) even if cortisol concentration, as a matter of fact, was increased significantly at the time of slaughtering. The evidence is that a period of rest reduce the stress accumulated during the long journey. On the contrary, the permanence in the laivrage facility does not reduce the alterations of muscle metabolism of animals. The markers of evaluation, in fact, have shown that the time elapsed from the trip to the ritual slaughter was not enough to reach a state of complete well-being of the muscle cells. Conclusion - In conclusion, the Islamic ritual, as it has done in our experience, is not a factor of particular stress or an injury to animal welfare. The increase of cortisol value is slight and not statistically significant.