Day 097 - 06 Mar 95 - Page 59
1 A. The slaughterman carrying out the stunning.
2
3 Q. Are your slaughtermen trained?
4 A. Yes, and licensed.
5
6 Q. And licensed, so where do they get their licence?
7 A. It is given to them by the District Council.
8
9 Q. What sort of training do they have to have?
10 A. Well, they actually go through a 12 month, I believe it
11 is a 12 month probationary period before they are granted a
12 full licence and they are under, you know, constant
13 observation anyway by meat inspection, etc.
14
15 Q. Which is your District Council that grants these licences
16 to your slaughtermen?
17 A. Daventry District Council.
18
19 Q. After that they have to do 12 months probation?
20 A. Yes.
21
22 Q. What would happen if the supervisor thought that they were
23 rather poor shots, for example?
24 A. I imagine that the person in question would not be
25 given a licence.
26
27 Q. They would not be given a licence. If, in the opinion of
28 the slaughtermen, there is an imperfect stun, what happens
29 next?
30 A. He has a reserve loaded captive bolt pistol which he
31 can use to render a perfect stun.
32
33 Q. Will he sometimes do that just because he is not quite sure
34 whether it was a good shot the first time or not?
35 A. I think if there is a any doubt that it is an imperfect
36 stun, he would probably use it.
37
38 Q. Even thought that wastes bullets and slows down the
39 production line?
40 A. Well, yes.
41
42 Q. You do not use head restraints, I think, do you?
43 A. We do not use head restraints as such. We have a -- we
44 do not clamp the head, but we have a small -- it is kind of
45 a structure coming out of the end of the stunning box which
46 encourages the animal to keep its head up rather than bend
47 it down.
48
49 Q. A sort of a ledge, is it?
50 A. Yes.
51
52 Q. It puts its chin on the ledge?
53 A. That is it, yes, that is the idea.
54
55 Q. Roughly speaking, and you have never, I suppose, actually
56 stunned an animal yourself or have you?
57 A. No, I am not licensed.
58
59 Q. No, you are not licensed. Exactly. On average, how long
60 may it take the slaughterman to line up the animal's head
