## 3 Results  
### Description of Pre-Slaughter Conditions and Observations, and Prevalence of carcass Skin Lesions  
The vehicles transporting the pigs to the abattoir waited between 4 min and 29 min, with an average waiting before unloading of 12.33 \(\pm\) 8.26 min. Lairage pen dimensions were variable; width ranged from 1.67 m to 5.67 m (average width 3.37 \(\pm\) 1.50 m), length from 5 to 6 m (average length 5.52 \(\pm\) 0.44 m), and areas from 8.33 m\({}^{2}\) to 34 m\({}^{2}\) (average area 18.80 \(\pm\) 9.30 m\({}^{2}\)). Lairage pen density ranged from 107.22 to 452.18 kg/m\({}^{2}\) (average density 252.82 \(\pm\) 104.71 kg/m\({}^{2}\)), and pen space allowance per pig was highly variable, from 0.36 m\({}^{2}\) to 1.48 m\({}^{2}\) per animal (0.81 \(\pm\) 0.40 m\({}^{2}\) on average per pig). Depending on the lairage pen, the animals had to walk different distances to reach the stunning area. The closest lairage pen was located at 2.33 m from the stunning area entrance, while the farthest was at 47.33 m (average distance 19.99 \(\pm\) 14.03 m). An overview of the relative frequency of events annotated at unloading (T1) and from the lairage pen door to the entrance of the stunning area (T2) is presented in Table 2. At T1, pigs expressed more frequently turning back behavior and vocalization, followed by overlapping, huddling, panting, slipping, and discoloration. Out of the 72 batches, 15 showed a frequency of turning back above 10%, and only 26 batches did not show animals expressing this behavior.ocalization and slipping were also behaviors frequently expressed in pigs at T1, with 45 and 44 batches showing, respectively, at least one pig vocalizing or slipping. Huddling was observed in 27 out of the 72 batches, and 23 batches had at least one animal that fell during unloading procedures (T1). Discoloration was noticed in 19 batches, with four batches having more than 10% of pigs showing discoloration. Panting was noticed in 13 batches, six of which were the batches transported in June. Shivering was extremely rare, with just three batches having an animal expressing this behavior. Elimination has never been observed at T1. The health status of the animals at T1 was in general good, with no pigs showing wounds and only two batches having a pig with a hematoma and a pig with lameness. At T1, to encourage pigs to move towards lairage pens, operators used shouts in 36 batches out of the 72 and in 25 batches hit the pigs with a rubber stick or with a plastic tube. At T2, almost all behaviors and events were more frequently expressed compared to T1. Out of the 72 batches, 59 had at least one animal turning back, 49 had at least one pig showing reluctance to move, 23 batches had at least one pig jumping, 19 batches had at least one pig pushing against the others, and 18 had huddling events. Panting at T2 was expressed in 7 batches out of the 72, distributed over five different dates. Discoloration in the different body regions was frequently observed; out of the 72 batches, 52 had at least one animal with thigh discoloration, 49 had animals with side discoloration, 45 had pigs with back discoloration, and 36 had at least one animal with ear discoloration. An increased frequency of negative human-animal interactions was also observed at T2, with 64 batches out of the 72 having at least one pig hit by an operator with a plastic tube. The same 64 batches also had operators using shouts to encourage pigs to move towards the stunning area.