The prevalence and causative factors associated with the slaughter of pregnant cattle in the Republic of Croatia

Slaughter of pregnant animals, although not illegal often causes ethical controversies, especially concerning the welfare and suffering of the foetus. The practice was thought to be sporadic, but in new research, the European Food Safety Authority estimates it to be 16% for dairy and 11% for beef cattle. The aim of this study was to determine for the first time the frequency of slaughter of pregnant cattle in Croatia, the reasons for the slaughter of such animals and the stage of pregnancy. The results show that the frequency of slaughter of pregnant cattle was 3.6%, which is below EFSA estimates and below the results of similar studies from other countries. The reason for the slaughter of 97% of pregnant cattle was regular commercial slaughter and the remaining 3% were slaughtered out of necessity. The relatively high frequency of confirmed mid- and highly pregnant cattle in this research confirms that this practice is common in Croatian abattoirs, i.e. it indicates the possibility of omissions in sending animals to slaughterhouse processing.