Inspector@Work - EURCAW-Pigs

Inspector@Work

In each edition of the EURCAW-Pigs newsletter you can read a personal story of an inspector working on pig welfare in the EU. All the featured Inspector@Work stories are listed below. The views and opinions presented in the Inspector@Work stories belong to the interviewees, and do not necessarily agree with the views and opinions of EURCAW-Pigs.

"Do not give up on the goals you set"

"In our work as inspectors, we have new challenges every day. We don’t know what will happen the next day. If there is an outbreak of African swine fever, all the activities are directed towards fighting this disease. This is what makes my work so exciting: meeting new situations and people and never knowing what’s next. Previously, my job was only about one species of animal. I worked on a dairy farm for a year after graduating in zootechnics at the University of Life Sciences in Poznań. Working as an inspector was my second job. It was supposed to be temporary, but I liked it and did not look for another one. This job allows me to learn about breeding different species, veterinary medicine, administration and law."

"The situation on a farm may change"

"You can’t completely trust what you have seen before” “Every day, I can learn something new about animal breeding. That makes my job as an inspector so much fun. I’ve been working here for eleven years since I graduated in Zootechnics at Poznań University of Life Sciences. I have a couple of responsibilities, such as cross compliance inspection and animal identification, registration and traceability inspection. I also work on disease control, e.g. African swine fever and Avian influenza. We also carry out inspections of biological materials. In addition to the inspections, I also have office duties."

"Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions"

".... but you choose in favour of the animals." "Working as an inspector is a great opportunity for someone new to the job market. I graduated from the University of Life Sciences in Poznan with a major in zootechnics. After graduating, I wanted to find a job to gain experience and to find something with which I felt most comfortable. So I was also looking for an employer with good working conditions. Then I found a job offer for the position of inspector as a substitute. I applied because I wanted to explore whether working as a civil servant would suit me. And it did!

"Nothing I have discovered was impossible to fix"

“After 25 years of working as a veterinary for pets, I became an Official Veterinary in Brittany, a region in France where breeding is very important, especially of pigs and poultry. I’m involved in the official confiscations of meat with sanitary problems, like pathological damage or signs of disease. In addition, I manage a team of eleven agents. We inspect the halls and, of course, animal welfare in slaughterhouses, in which I’m responsible for organising the schedules, reading and correcting reports written by the agents, and signing official documents concerning decisions of the inspection team.

‘Decent slaughtering is essential for public health’

'As a student of Veterinary Medicine, I initially thought my future job would concern pets, principally cats and dogs, like many fellows were apt to choose. Almost graduated, I began to see the importance of making changes in slaughterhouses of different species, like cows and pigs. I discovered the importance of the welfare of livestock for public health, animal and humans, and that became my primary focus.

‘Prevent a time-squeeze and explain the benefits of animal welfare’

‘Over the past eight years that I have spent as an inspector on farms and pig farms, the work has not become any easier. Farmers have to comply with frequently changing European animal welfare regulations. Take, for example, the revisions on animal disease in the European Animal Health Law that we have been confronted with since this year. We also have additional national regulations on animal welfare and disease prevention in Germany, such as entry requirements on farms regarding hygienic criteria. Another challenge is the wording of the law; it’s kept rather general to provide the possibility to act case by case, as there are different aspects to be considered in the individual situation on the pig farm.

‘I try to explain how a pig acts naturally in the forest’

‘Animal welfare has been a hot topic since I joined this particular department of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries in 2013. The legislation of the European Union is developing quickly, and on top of that, the Danish government has its own regulations. For example, the EU prescribes that farmers should maintain a medications record per pig or group of pigs, Danish regulations are stricter; the diagnosis needs to be noted as well.

‘The first ten minutes are the hardest’

After having worked as an inspector on pig farms for twenty-two years, it is easy to spot whether a farmer has his business in order. But, I still want to inspect every pig. My motto is: every blemish is one too many. Applying the rules is not always easy because the legislation coming from Brussels is sometimes open to interpretation.