Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 46
1
2 Generally speaking, the advice now is that they should go
3 in a lighted area, they should be able to look up at a
4 light, it should not be dark, it should be a white wall and
5 also, rather surprisingly, they seem to go better round a
6 curved -----
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just stop there for a moment because if, at
9 the end of the day, you are going to say you would expect
10 conditions in the slaughterhouses to be standard, so that
11 such practices as you may tell me about you would expect to
12 prevail in slaughterhouses which provide beef to McDonald's
13 suppliers, I think what Mr. Morris wants you to do is not
14 just say where difficulties may arise, but to give your
15 evidence of malpractices which may cause suffering to the
16 animals.
17 A. I have tried to do that by mentioning the floors, for
18 instance. If the floors are not satisfactory -----
19
20 Q. I understand that, but what actually happens that you would
21 complain about?
22 A. They would slip or they would be fouled and that would
23 make them slip. It would also be fortunate for them
24 because it would be corrosive. You might say: "Well, they
25 are going to be slaughtered anyway so it is not too
26 serious", but it still is important that they should not
27 slip; it is important they should not jostle.
28
29 MR. MORRIS: Dr. Long, the important thing is when you have seen
30 cattle entering the slaughterhouses and going through this
31 process up to the point of killing, what have you seen that
32 you would say is a welfare problem, have you seen, that you
33 would in your experience see as something that would be
34 fairly prevalent in slaughterhouses as a problem?
35 A. Well, it is ------
36
37 Q. For example, corrosive floors, is that a regular occurrence
38 from what you have seen?
39 A. It is quite regular. Corrosive or smooth floors, also
40 beating of some sort, excessive use of sticks and goads,
41 clanging machinery -- cattle are sensitive to clanging
42 machinery. There is a lot of saws going, electric
43 equipment, which causes commotion, causes disturbance. One
44 animal may upset another by pushing and shoving. That may
45 be because the races are too narrow.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause again. Mr. Morris quite rightly
48 asked you what practices you thought were prevalent.
49 A. Well, those are prevalent. I mean, they are not
50 actually practices in the sense of the design of the
51 slaughterhouse ---
52
53 Q. Things which happen?
54 A. -- may be wrong.
55
56 Q. I merely interrupted you there because you said "may
57 happen" and he, quite rightly in my view, was turning your
58 to what does happen and does happen to a degree which might
59 be indicative to mean that it is either fairly standard or
60 happens often enough for me to infer that it happens to
