Identification of levers for improving dead equine traceability: A survey of French equine owners’ perception of regulatory procedures following their animal’s death

A. Merlin (1) , J. Schneider (2) , G. Cazeau (3) , C. Sala (3) , M. Linster (4, 1) , N. Foucher (4) , B. Ferry (5) , M. Delerue (2) , J.P. Amat (3) , J. Tapprest (1)

1 PhEED - Physiopathologie et épidémiologie des maladies équines
2 IFCE - Institut Français du Cheval et de l'Equitation [Saumur]
3 Laboratoire de Lyon [ANSES]
4 Laboratoire de santé animale, sites de Maisons-Alfort et de Normandie
5 Espace et action

The core of the French equine traceability system is the census database (SIRE) managed by the French horse and riding institute (IFCE). Following the death of an equine, owners are legally obliged to take charge of cadaver removal by contacting a rendering company directly or after registration on the national ATM-équidés ANGEE association (ATM) website, which proposes negotiated prices for removal and recording of the death in the SIRE database. Despite these offers, ATM notes few users. Owners are also legally obliged to return the equine's passport to the IFCE, but only 30-40 % of owners comply with the regulation. Rendering companies register data on equine mortality in the fallen stock data interchange database (FSDI), but it is difficult to cross-reference these data with SIRE data. Consequently, the death of equines is not well registered in the SIRE database. The objective of the present study was to identify levers that could be used to improve dead equine traceability by i) investigating the level of satisfaction of equine owners with ATM and rendering company services; and ii) investigating the drawbacks of owners having to return the passport to the IFCE. An online survey was designed and distributed by email to the 5 158 owners who used ATM services between April 2017 and April 2018. The response rate was 16.4 %. Most owners were satisfied by ATM and rendering company services. The lack of simple and quick removal procedures and the lack of any connection between ATM and the rendering companies were among the main drawbacks identified. Regarding the return of the passport to the IFCE, most responding owners returned it through the rendering company (65 %) or directly (2 %). The passport was returned significantly more frequently when requested by the renderers. The main reason for not providing the passport was the owner wanted to keep it as a souvenir. These results suggest that ATM and the rendering companies are key players in dead equine traceability. ATM services should be developed through the establishment of a direct connection with rendering companies to accelerate the cadaver removal request and to allow the cross-referencing of data between the ATM, FSDI and SIRE databases for a better dead equine traceability. Rendering companies need regulatory support to help them ask owners for the equine's passport, formalizing their contribution to equine traceability. Finally, effective communication has to be established to inform owners about the removal procedures and the regulations.

Mots clés: Equid owners; Equine traceability; Horse; Passport; Rendering companies

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

A. Merlin, J. Schneider, G. Cazeau, C. Sala, M. Linster, et al.. Identification of levers for improving dead equine traceability: A survey of French equine owners’ perception of regulatory procedures following their animal’s death. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2020, 174, pp.104834. ⟨10.1016/j.prevetmed.2019.104834⟩. ⟨hal-03488613⟩