CONSUMERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS SURGICAL CASTRATION OF PIGS AND ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES: A SURVEY FROM ITALY

Castration of male pigs is widely practised in Europe to avoid boar taint. This practice can cause stress and pain to the animals, if it is done surgically and without analgesics and anaesthetics. In fact, surgical castration without analgesia and anaesthetics has been criticized for the violation of the pigs’ welfare, integrity and possibly health. This has triggered a cascade of research for more humane, alternative methods to eliminate or greatly reduce the occurrence of boar taint. These alternative methods include surgical castration with anaesthesia and/or analgesia, sperm sexing, the selection of pigs that are free of taint from androstenone, and immunocastration with vaccination. Considering the relatively high animal welfare standards and divergence in public interest in farm animal welfare and ethical issues, the objective of the present study was to investigate the awareness, concerns and attitudes of Italian stakeholders relating to animal welfare during the surgical castration in production pigs. A questionnaire-based survey was administered to 4 different types of respondents: butchers, farmers/breeders, consumers and student populations of Veterinary Medicine. The results show that there is a general awareness of the welfare of farm animals. The majority of the participants (57%) were aware of the problem of boar taint, with a consequent general approval of the practice of castration in pigs. Traditional castration techniques, which are more brutal and less respectful of animal welfare, were only approved by the categories of farmers and butchers, doubtless for cultural and economic reasons.