Day 289 - 29 Oct 96 - Page 22


     
     1   MS. STEEL:   If I could say some final points on transport, just
     2        to draw your attention to the evidence of Louise Wallis
     3        which was heard on 29th March, 1995, day 110 of the trial.
     4        On page 2 of the transcript on that day she related how she
     5        had been down to Sun Valley's processing plant in Hereford
     6        in December 1988 with other people to carry out an
     7        inspection of the conditions for the chickens being
     8        transported into the plant, and shortly after she arrived a
     9        lorry loaded with chickens arrived and stopped outside the
    10        gate and then she, with others, went to inspect the
    11        conditions.  She said that what she saw was that the
    12        chickens were packed very tightly into crates in a plastic
    13        mesh which were piled on top of one another in tiers.  The
    14        chickens were packed very tightly in crates.  She said
    15        there were at least were ten in the crate.  Obviously, not
    16        being able to see it from all angles, only one side of it
    17        being visible to the outside world, you would not be able
    18        to tell exactly how many.
    19
    20        She went on to say, "Because the crates were piled on top
    21        of each other in this way the chickens' droppings had
    22        fallen down and the chickens on the bottom were covered in
    23        droppings.  The birds appeared to be in a pretty miserable
    24        condition.  A lot of the birds had feathers missing, they
    25        had extensive bald patches on their bodies.  Some of the
    26        birds had scabs and sores, and they generally looked very
    27        listless and apathetic.  Some of them had their mouths
    28        open, and were panting and in a state of great stress.
    29        Some of them looked like they were on the verge of death".
    30        She did say that she did have experience of free range
    31        chickens, so she had an idea of how chickens behaved in a
    32        normal environment.  It was not something that was
    33        completely new to her.
    34
    35        She referred to the fact that, because the birds were
    36        packed so tightly in the crates, some of them were squashed
    37        against the sides with wing tips sticking out and some of
    38        the legs sticking out, and she remembered one bird whose
    39        leg was very obviously broken because of the very strange
    40        angle that it was protruding from the crate.  She was not
    41        able to see whether or not that bird was alive or dead
    42        because it was several tiers up the lorry.
    43
    44        So, I think that evidence is helpful in determining the
    45        suffering of the birds as they are transported to the
    46        slaughter plant and, as we have heard, that can be up to 70
    47        miles and on average 25 to 30 miles.  So it is not just
    48        like a short drive up the road.  It is also helpful
    49        evidence in terms of the bald patches and scabs, and so on,
    50        the state of the chickens generally in 1988 in terms of 
    51        their general health, because obviously that is the only - 
    52        well, no, we have heard the evidence of Mr. Bruton as 
    53        well.  In terms of, sort of inspections, all the evidence
    54        that we had is far more recent and after the date of the
    55        alleged libel.
    56
    57        So, bearing in mind that Dr. Pattison has said that there
    58        have been quite a lot of improvements over the course of
    59        time, I think that the conditions the birds were in on that
    60        lorry is indicative of the general standard throughout

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