Day 003 - 30 Jun 94 - Page 40
1
MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is the volume again?
2
MR. RAMPTON: It is called "words complained of". We could
3 not, on the spur of the moment, think of a better name for
it. Would you please turn to tab 19?
4
MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is pink, is it?
5
MR. RAMPTON: Yes, it should be pink. My Lord, tab 19. This
6 is an article, Mr. Preston, from the Bournemouth
Advertiser of 12th October 1989, yes?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. You were not in court yesterday, but yesterday the
defendants alleged in their opening that McDonald's
9 extracted an apology from the Bournemouth Advertiser by
falsely pretending they or their suppliers did not use the
10 captive bolt pistol, do you understand?
A. I understand, yes.
11
Q. I just want you to look at a short part of this article.
12 You notice incidentally the date, 12th October 1989, which
is four days before the defendants' demonstration at East
13 Finchley?
A. Yes.
14
Q. You will notice in the left hand column a facsimile of the
15 leaflet?
A. Yes.
16
Q. I do not ask you anything about that; I just ask you to
17 notice it. In the right hand column we see this. I will
read the whole of it: "Target for the Saturday demo is
18 the Poole branch of McDonald's and the protestors say they
want to unmask Ronald, the company's own clown, as a
19 'gruesome joker'. Through leaflets and placards Reggie
the Veggie will argue that feeding grain to beef cattle
20 instead of directly to the world's starving is immoral,
says local animal aid official, Malcolm Venn".
21
This is the part I want you to concentrate on: "Humane
22 slaughter is a myth, say the campaigners, and quote a
consultant pathologist writing in a meat trade magazine
23 describing failures with the captive bolt method used to
prestun cattle."
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. He says, that is the consultant pathologist apparently,
"It is a horrifying fact that approximately one third of
26 the cattle shot in this way are not stunned but stand
grievously wounded and fully conscious while the pistol is
27 reloaded." Mr. Preston, do you have any information to
suggest that that might be so?
28 A. The information I have is totally false. The system
is darn near perfect, nearly a hundred per cent accurate.
29
Q. If it were the case that you discovered that the people
30 who slaughtered cattle for McDonald's were using a method
as horrendously inefficient as that, what would you do
