Day 088 - 13 Feb 95 - Page 50


     
     1        no less than 1.3 amperage.  This must be attained within 1
     2        second and maintained for at least 3 seconds"?
     3        A.  Yes.
     4
     5   Q.   But when the pig is stunned, presumably it collapses?
     6        A.  Yes.
     7
     8   Q.   The slaughter man follows it, does it, as it falls with the
     9        tongs still in place?  I have never seen it happen.  Can
    10        you paint a picture for me?
    11        A.  May I take the first point first please, sir?
    12
    13   Q.   Yes?
    14        A.  The 1.3 is what we call "high voltage stunning" and it
    15        is very difficult to achieve that with low voltage
    16        stunning, so instead of 3 seconds on low voltage stunning,
    17        the actual tongs to be remaining on the head should be a
    18        minimum of 7 seconds and that is what is recommended in the
    19        Humane Slaughter Association procedures.  I am now trying
    20        to describe how you stun the pig.  Is that what you would
    21        like to know, sir, the actual physical -----
    22
    23   Q.   Well, I have had it explained to me how the tongs are put
    24        on the pig's head.  By all means say that again, but the
    25        picture I want is what are the actual physical movements
    26        which are gone through when the current goes through the
    27        pig's head, precisely what happens to the pig?
    28        A.  Right.  First of all, the tongs are of a scissor-type.
    29        They may operate like this on the pig's head, so when the
    30        pig travels around the stunning pen it comes round quietly
    31        and as it gets -- and there is a little gate here, sir, and
    32        pigs will you go to a gate to have a look through.  That is
    33        another little deceptive mark for the pig.  You then get
    34        the tongs and you clip it around the skull trying to get it
    35        across the eyes here, across the temple.  Sometimes it is
    36        not possible to hit the spot every time, it must be
    37        admitted that, but because the pig is wet, the stunning is
    38        initially instant.  Then as the pig crawls down the
    39        stunning person's leg, and that is part of it so the pig
    40        does not crash to the floor, the tongs, as the head goes
    41        down, comes around so it is over the eye and the back of
    42        the head so you have a direct route through the brain.
    43
    44   Q.   They are then held in place for 7 seconds?
    45        A.  7 seconds, yes.  With experience, one can see when the
    46        animal is stunned, sir.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Thank you.
    49
    50                       Cross-Examined by the Defendants. 
    51 
    52   MS. STEEL:  You said the company's own herd of sows consists of 
    53        about 6,000 sows; is that right?
    54        A.  6,300.
    55
    56   Q.   Right.  Of those, how many go to slaughter each week?
    57        A.  How many sows go to slaughter?
    58
    59   Q.   Yes.
    60        A.  That varies.

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