Assessment of cattle welfare in Narok Town Slaughterhouse in Narok County, Kenya  

Year: 2023

Grace Muita
Maasai Mara University, Narok, Kenya 

Supervisor: Dr David Obiero Oduori 

HSA Student/Trainee Scholarship 2023 

The primary aim was to assess the welfare of the cattle by conducting a direct welfare assessment of animals awaiting slaughter at the lairage and stunning phases. Additionally, data on the welfare soundness of the slaughterhouse structures, and knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the slaughterhouse workers in the context of animal welfare were captured. A cross-sectional study design was conducted at Narok Town Slaughterhouse, Narok County, Kenya between June – September 2023. A total of 271 cattle were involved in the study and out of these, 235 proceeded to the slaughter area. Injuries observed included: ocular lesions (3.7%), claw lesions (0.7%), hock lesions (2.2%), and neck lesions (0.4%). Out of 235 cattle that were slaughtered, 97.4% were immobilized using a puntilla, 1.3% using a mace, and 1.4% using a combination of both the mace and the puntilla. A total of 81.4% of the cattle required multiple immobilization attempts. The number of attempts ranged from 1-27. The effectiveness of the stunning was assessed against the presence or absence of select neurophysiological reflexes where most of the assessed reflexes persisted before bleeding. The glaring animal welfare disparity reported here calls for swift intervention to alleviate the suffering of cattle during the slaughter period. The noted welfare concerns may also be correlated with lower quality of beef, possibly attributed to injury, stress, and improper bleeding, which could cumulatively result in post-harvest losses.