Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 48
1 Packers that in their specifications to the drovers they
2 are trained to be aware of the possibility of cattle trying
3 to escape. What comment have you got from what you have
4 seen about that?
5 A. I know of cattle that have escaped into a town from a
6 slaughterhouse.
7
8 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, my Lord. It was not from the race.
9 Mr. Morris should make that clear; it was from the lairage.
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think it was from the lairage.
12
13 MR. RAMPTON: Actually, from the unloading to the lairage, I
14 think.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
17
18 MR. MORRIS: What is your view on that which is, basically, do
19 cattle or do they not try to escape?
20 A. They try to escape. I have known of examples of escape
21 from markets and of escape from slaughterhouses. I have
22 known of examples where they have had to be chased around
23 the town and eventually shot by a Police marksman.
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Does that still happen? One can remember as
26 a boy that market day was not really interesting unless a
27 steer or cow managed to get out into the high street sooner
28 or later. Does that happen nowadays?
29 A. Occasionally. It has a difference now because many
30 slaughterhouses have been moved out of towns so that, you
31 know, it would be different for that reason.
32
33 Q. The town centre market is by and large a thing of the past,
34 is it?
35 A. Yes. Many fewer and a number of the smaller
36 slaughterhouses that used to be within towns have closed
37 and slaughterhouses and so-called green field sites have
38 grown bigger factory slaughterhouses.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: The use of goads, what is the welfare concern with
41 the use of goads apart from you said before it is a symptom
42 of bad handling or something, for the cow or the cattle it
43 is used on, what is their metabolic reaction?
44 A. Well, it gives them a sting, I imagine it is just the
45 same as you or me. If I touched one of those goads it
46 gives me a shock. The point about it with cattle is that
47 it is argued that if they are used at all they should be
48 used on the hindquarters. I have seen them applied to more
49 sensitive parts, particularly of cows where, in fact, the
50 reaction would be expected to be much worse because there
51 is not an insulating mat of hair. For instance, the udder,
52 around the vulva region.
53
54 Q. But cows, is their biology in that sense the same as us, or
55 are they more or less sensitive to electric shock?
56 A. I am sorry, again scientifically, I could not even tell
57 whether you are more sensitive in the dentist's chair than
58 I am. They are sensitive, that much I know, otherwise they
59 would not use them.
60
