Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 41
1 early 80s.
2
3 Q. You said there is legislation now providing that no injured
4 or sick birds should be transported for slaughter. When
5 was that brought in?
6 A. I think two years ago.
7
8 Q. So, prior to that it would have been fairly common place
9 for birds with broken wings and legs and other injures to
10 be transported to the processing plant for slaughter?
11 A. I would say that was not -- that has never been the
12 common practice to do that. The effect of the legislation
13 was to actually enforce that with law, but it has never
14 been a good practice or a recommended one to transport sick
15 or injured animals.
16
17 Q. Whether or not it was good practice, it was standard
18 practice, was it not?
19 A. Not to do it.
20
21 Q. It was standard practice for sick birds to be transported,
22 injured birds to be transported?
23 A. No, it was not.
24
25 Q. So what happened to the injured birds on the occasions when
26 you were watching?
27 A. Well, the procedure is that they should be culled on
28 the farm and disposed of on the farm.
29
30 Q. But what happened when you were watching?
31 A. Precisely that.
32
33 Q. Does the company keep records of the numbers of birds that
34 turn up injured at the processing plant?
35 A. Yes, it does.
36
37 Q. Is it determined whether those injuries occurred in transit
38 or before the birds were put in the crates?
39 A. Yes, we do that.
40
41 Q. What percentage are injured either before they are loading
42 or during the loading?
43 A. Any catching, what we believe to be catching-related
44 injury is recorded in the factory, according to the
45 catching team that has been working at the time. That
46 information is fed back from the factory to the foreman of
47 the catching team. He then has an accurate record of all
48 the -- any injuries that that catching team have caused
49 which he can then take up with the individual catchers.
50 This is a very good system that we have in place now which
51 we feel keeps the catching teams informed about what is
52 going on, shows their performance and is generally a good
53 incentive to do a good job.
54
55 Q. Do you look at the statistics for the numbers of birds that
56 are injured either before loading or during loading?
57 A. I will look at these from time to time. It is the
58 responsibility of the technical manager in the factory to
59 actually make sure that all the recording is being done, to
60 analyse the statistics and make sure that the catching
