Chile: new regulations on animal welfare

With the aim of increasing the work towards the monitoring by the Agricultural and Farming Service (SAG) with regard to the welfare of animals, last May three new regulations on animal welfare were approved with the intention of increasing the monitoring abilities of the SAG, and with the aim of improving the welfare conditions of the animals and to increase the safety standards.

In year 2010, the SAG created the Animal Welfare Unit, with the aim of going into detail and making progress with respect to these matters. This new unit was in charge of writing up, together with private, public and academic entities, three new regulations on the monitoring of the welfare of animals:

• Regulation on the industrial production, marketing, and buildings for looking after the animals (approved on May 24th 2013), by means of which the Service will be able to demand contingency plans, that the managers have a provable training, and suitable premises and environmental conditions, among other things.
• Regulation on transportation and livestock (approved on May 16th 2013), through which the SAG inspectors will have the ability to carry out inspections during the transportation of livestock and to ask for any relevant precedent.
• Regulation on benefit and slaughtering of livestock for human consumption and in cases of human or natural public health emergencies (approved on May 30th 2013). The inspectors will monitor the good handling and the transportation of livestock, they will inspect the design of the lairage pens, and the restraint and stunning methods, among other matters.