Slaughterhouse design significantly influences animal welfare outcomes, with poorly designed facilities creating welfare problems that good design can prevent.
Slaughterhouse design is a welfare intervention that affects millions of animals daily. Animals brought to poorly designed facilities experience fear, disorientation, and physical injury from falls and pressure before stunning. Temple Grandin's design principles - based on understanding cattle and pig perception and movement preferences - have been adopted in facilities handling hundreds of millions of animals and demonstrate measurable welfare improvements. Investment in welfare-optimized design pays back in reduced injury, improved stunning efficacy, and better labor conditions. Design-based welfare improvement operates continuously rather than requiring ongoing management compliance.