Day 018 - 26 Jul 94 - Page 55


     
     1
         Q.   -- in this section where it says:  "Anti-biotics are
     2        routinely used at Sun Valley Poultry in an attempt to
              prevent severe lameness in broiler chickens".  My question
     3        is simply this:  Do you see anything the matter with that
              from the point of view of animal welfare?
     4        A.  From the point of view of animal welfare and the
              genetic material they have supplied to them, that is good
     5        practice.
 
     6   Q.   Then please turn over to page 7 at (ii).  I will read the
              whole of it but I am not going to ask you about all of
     7        it:  "It is the Defendants' case that since the slaughter
              is unnecessary it is also cruel".  That is a philosophical
     8        proposition, Dr. Gregory, which neither you nor I can give
              evidence about.  "Further, the defendants will rely upon
     9        the methods used and conditions of abattoirs used for
              killing cattle including the captive bolt pistol and
    10        cow-puncher".  Are the captive bolt pistol and cow-puncher
              generically distinct instruments or not?
    11        A.  Cow puncture is referred to usually as a captive bolt
              gun.  It is not a pistol in that it adopts a pistol shape,
    12        as you have noticed yourself.
 
    13   Q.   I know.  It is in the form of a cylinder, roughly?
              A.  Exactly, so they are all captive bolt guns.
    14
         Q.   Is there or used there to be an instrument for stunning
    15        cattle which had a sort of thing like a mushroom head
              which you used for banging down the road?
    16        A.  That device is still used with certain types of gun.
 
    17   Q.   What is it called?
              A.  In terms of the jargon, a cash knocker is one name for
    18        it.  It is usually called a percussion gun.
 
    19   Q.   A percussion gun.  It does not penetrate the skull?
              A.  That is correct -- sometimes it does by misadventure.
    20
         Q.   It is like being hit on the head with a baseball bat?
    21        A.  Yes, it makes a depression.
 
    22   Q.   " ... which is sometimes used with head restraints".  Were
              head restraints used at either of the two establishments
    23        you visited?
              A.  No.
    24
         Q.   "When cattle are stunned they are hoisted up by their rear
    25        legs and their throats are then slit open and the animal
              bled out".  So far so good.  "Pigs are usually killed 
    26        using high voltage head to body stunning which causes 
              cardiac arrest". 
    27
              I do not ask you about the truth of that general statement
    28        so far as the world at large is concerned.  What I ask you
              is this:  In the establishment which you visited which is
    29        GD Bowes in Norfolk, which is the only, or one of the very
              few at any rate, establishment from which McDonald's takes
    30        any pig meat, were they doing that?
              A.  No.

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