Animals may be subjected to various stressors during transport, which may compromise their health and welfare as well as meat quality. In the chain of operations between a farm and a slaughterhouse, animal transport is probably the most stressful and injurious stage. Data on mortality is commonly collected at slaughterhouse as a retrospective indicator of animal welfare during transport. Ten-year prevalence of mortality of all the species and categories of animals (cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, poultry, rabbits and ostriches) regularly scheduled for slaughter in the Czech slaughterhouses was assessed as dead on arrival after road transport from 2010 to 2019. Among livestock, the highest mortality was found in pigs (0.065%); statistically higher compared to cattle (0.027%) and sheep (0.015%). In animals shipped in containers (rabbits, broiler chickens, end-of-lay hens, turkeys, geese and ducks), the highest prevalence was found in laying hens (0.507%), statistically higher compared to broiler chickens (0.425%) and rabbits (0.199%). The lowest prevalence was observed in geese (0.003%). There was a trend for decreasing death losses of pigs in more recent years and losses in broiler chickens and ducks increased. The results indicate that the current transport conditions should be re-evaluated for poultry. Emphasis should be put on the assessment of animal fitness before transport. This is especially important for animals at the end of their production cycle such as dairy cows, sows, and laying hens. They were more likely to die during the journey.

The welfare of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats was assessed by measuring trauma detected during veterinary postmortem inspection at slaughterhouses. The subject of this evaluation were all bovine, porcine, ovine and caprine animals slaughtered at Czech slaughterhouses in the monitored period, i.e., a total of 1,136,754 cows, 257,912 heifers, 1,015,541 bulls, 104,459 calves, 586,245 sows, 25,027,303 finisher pigs, 123,191 piglets, 22,815 ewes, 114,264 lambs, 1348 does and 5778 kids. The data on the numbers of traumatic findings were obtained retrospectively from a national veterinary database collecting data from slaughterhouse postmortem examinations. The results showed that findings of trauma were observed at a low frequency in the studied species. Injuries were detected most frequently in cows (1.71%). In contrast, no findings associated with the presence of trauma were recorded in does and kids. From the viewpoint of trauma localization, findings on the limbs were more frequent than findings on the body (p < 0.01). The only exceptions to this were lambs, does and kids, for which there was no statistically significant difference between findings on the limbs and the body (p = 1.00). The results show that housing system (bedding, the presence of slats, floor hardness), transport of animals to the slaughterhouse (moving animals to the vehicle, loading ramps, floors in transport vehicles and the transport of animals itself) and design of the slaughterhouse (unloading ramps, passageways and slaughterhouse floors) have a greater impact on the limbs than the bodies of animals in the majority of species. A difference was also demonstrated in the occurrence of findings of trauma in the limbs and body (p < 0.01) between culled adult animals and fattened animals, namely in cattle and pigs. A difference (p < 0.01) between ewes and lambs was found only in the occurrence of traumatic injury to the limbs. The results showed that fattened animals are affected by the risk of trauma to a lesser extent than both culled adult animals and young animals. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.01) were also found between the studied species and categories of animals. The category most affected from the viewpoint of injury both to the limbs and body was cows. In contrast to cows that are typically reared indoors, the low frequency of traumatic findings was found in small ruminants and in bulls, i.e., animals typically reared outdoors. Assumedly, access to pasture may be beneficial considering the risk of traumatic injury.

To assess stress in horses, a method of monitoring eye blinks (full and half) and eyelid twitches while collecting saliva and blood samples before and after annual intensive police training was carried out. This noninvasive monitoring method was used to determine whether blood collection, which is considered invasive, is more stressful for horses than saliva collection. We discovered no significant difference in stress related manifestations between saliva sampling and blood collection in our study. In both cases, sampling (blood and saliva) reduced the number of full and half eye blinks. Based on our hypothesis, we expected a statistically significant changes in the number of eye blinks and eyelid twitches as the number of potential stressors increased (in our case, we considered police training and sampling). Saliva cortisol levels, on the other hand, revealed that police training for horses was not stressful. The method of measuring eye blinks and eyelid twitches appears to be an appropriate alternative method for monitoring stress factors in horses.

Long-term tethering of dogs, or their keeping under unsuitable conditions can result in issues related to changes in their behavior as they may not satisfy their basic needs of life. These needs are discussed in this paper, along with cases when dogs unnecessarily have to endure cruelty and pain. The unavoidable tethering of a dog must not cause trauma and must be arranged in a way that it guarantees physical comfort. Failure to meet the basic needs of an animal may result in manifestation of fear and subsequent aggressiveness. Owners of animals are responsible for their life and health, and their obligations include eliminating the possibility of them hurting themselves or other beings. The relevant adopted legislative provisions should provide protection to animals and be enforceable, which currently appears rather difficult. Controlling and observation of the legislative provisions related to the tethering of dogs raises some difficulties for animal protection inspectors. It is necessary to focus on the specificities of keeping conditions of various dog breeds and on their individual features. Based on research and the relevant Slovak legislative provisions, this paper discusses various views on the practice of tethering dogs from the point of view of public safety and the ethical consequences of permanent dog tethering. Data on dog tethering in Slovakia were evaluated based on a survey and Slovak legal rules governing this issue were analyzed along with various views of public safety and the ethical consequences of permanent dog tethering.