HSA announces two Research Training Scholarships
02 September 2015
The Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) has announced the awarding of two Research Training Scholarships, each for three-year research projects, at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and the University of Bristol respectively. The research will focus on two important areas for the advancement of humane slaughter of cattle and of turkeys, ducks and geese, with potentially very significant benefits to producers and to animal welfare.
Carlos Rebelo will undertake research at the RVC to assess dry electrical stunning systems for poultry, and aims to develop new constant current stunners or electrode types for turkeys, ducks and geese in small-scale production that will address risks to animal welfare with existing constant voltage devices used for these species.
Awal Fuseini’s project at the University of Bristol is to develop a humane, safe and Halal-compliant method of pre-cut stunning for cattle using a new type of electrical stunning – Single Pulse Ultra-high Current (SPUC). This type of stunning is expected to result in a reversible stun but with a much longer duration of unconsciousness, and a reduction or elimination of post-stun convulsions. This should improve personnel safety and reduce delays in neck-cutting that might otherwise see a recovery of consciousness before death. It also has the potential to improve meat quality.
The HSA’s Research Training Scholarship scheme is part of the charity’s ongoing promotion of high quality science likely to lead to significant advances in animal welfare during transport, marketing and slaughter. The awards are open to veterinary or science graduates for three-year programmes of research leading to a degree at doctorate level.