Relationship beetween transport and animal welfare in avian and rabbit species

This paper is aimed at making a short general statement of the recent studies carried out on animal welfare during transport, in avian and rabbit species. In the last decade, several regulations dealing with the protection of animals during transport have been adopted by European Union. Both in poultry and rabbits production chains, in main cases animals are transported twice during their productive life so welfare concerns are different in relation to considered category and age of the animals (breeders vs. slaughter animals, pre-deposition layers vs. spent hens; weaned rabbits vs. slaughter rabbits, etc.). Major sources of welfare concern in commercial transport of poultry and rabbits are the process of catching and crating, extreme environmental temperatures and relative humidity, feed and water deprivation and journey duration.