Today was our last day hosting the Japanese delegation from Jamti (Japanese Meat Technology Institute, made up of 200 members from the Japanese meat industry, including slaughterhouse managers and animal scientist).
Eyes on Animals held 2 presentations for them- one of the training we give to workers of pig slaughterhouses and one of the training we give to workers in cattle slaughterhouses. These trainings cover everything from how these animals see, smell, and feel to how to design better installations and how to move animals using their behaviour instead of stressful, loud or painful tools of force. JAMTI is leading the creation of animal-welfare rules and guidelines and check-lists for Japan, so that animal-welfare can better be respected during slaughter there. Our presentations gave them an idea of how dynamic trainings can lead to change in human attitude and behaviour towards animals and how to best get slaughterhouse workers interested in better welfare practices. Many of the better practices from our trainings they already knew of, as JAMTI had translated our 180-page document “Seeing your slaughterhouse through the eyes of animals- Tips on how to reduce stress, suffering, and ease handling” into Japanese for all of their members!
We had a lovely week with this Japanese delegation and are grateful for their sincere eagerness to put better practices into practice in Japanese abattoirs.
