The Challenges and Needs of Animal Welfare Inspectors on Farm and at Slaughter: An Ethnographic Study of Animal Welfare Inspection in Ireland, Denmark, France, and Poland

Drawing on fieldwork in four European countries, this project aims to identify the training needs of inspectors by examining the challenges they face in the conduct of their work, with a focus on assessing welfare on farm and at slaughter. The report concludes by providing recommendations based on these insights as to how EURCAW can support their work. Recommendations include: Interview-based podcast discussing topics of inspection with inspectors discussing challenges and how to address them, on farm, at transport, and at slaughter Direct contact to the regional offices as well as the head offices to promote EURCAW - Pigs More literature on sow welfare, indicators of fitness at transport, transport regulations, and conditions of housing pigs in stalls at lairage both overnight and for shorter periods – such as research on temperature, stocking density, and mixing. Comprehensive study of how inspection is performed across all European countries as all inspectors expressed an interest in understanding how inspection is implemented in other European countries. More fieldwork focused on transport checks as these were not possible to fully incorporate into this project, but transport was consistently mentioned by inspectors as an area associated with significant risks to welfare. Greater provision of materials and literature on conflict resolution, resilience training, and communication strategies. Ethnographic research methods examine the lived experience of participants and as such, involve participant observation where the researcher joins participants in their daily activities. Insights from participant observation are then incorporated into follow-up semi-structured interviews which include open questions allowing further elaboration of insights from participant observation. Much of my work with inspectors was mainly observation of their work with limited participation in duties of animal welfare assessment. Due to EURCAW – Pigs’ use of photographic material in our literature, I also photographed the work of inspectors where such access was granted