Day 018 - 26 Jul 94 - Page 55
1
Q. -- in this section where it says: "Anti-biotics are
2 routinely used at Sun Valley Poultry in an attempt to
prevent severe lameness in broiler chickens". My question
3 is simply this: Do you see anything the matter with that
from the point of view of animal welfare?
4 A. From the point of view of animal welfare and the
genetic material they have supplied to them, that is good
5 practice.
6 Q. Then please turn over to page 7 at (ii). I will read the
whole of it but I am not going to ask you about all of
7 it: "It is the Defendants' case that since the slaughter
is unnecessary it is also cruel". That is a philosophical
8 proposition, Dr. Gregory, which neither you nor I can give
evidence about. "Further, the defendants will rely upon
9 the methods used and conditions of abattoirs used for
killing cattle including the captive bolt pistol and
10 cow-puncher". Are the captive bolt pistol and cow-puncher
generically distinct instruments or not?
11 A. Cow puncture is referred to usually as a captive bolt
gun. It is not a pistol in that it adopts a pistol shape,
12 as you have noticed yourself.
13 Q. I know. It is in the form of a cylinder, roughly?
A. Exactly, so they are all captive bolt guns.
14
Q. Is there or used there to be an instrument for stunning
15 cattle which had a sort of thing like a mushroom head
which you used for banging down the road?
16 A. That device is still used with certain types of gun.
17 Q. What is it called?
A. In terms of the jargon, a cash knocker is one name for
18 it. It is usually called a percussion gun.
19 Q. A percussion gun. It does not penetrate the skull?
A. That is correct -- sometimes it does by misadventure.
20
Q. It is like being hit on the head with a baseball bat?
21 A. Yes, it makes a depression.
22 Q. " ... which is sometimes used with head restraints". Were
head restraints used at either of the two establishments
23 you visited?
A. No.
24
Q. "When cattle are stunned they are hoisted up by their rear
25 legs and their throats are then slit open and the animal
bled out". So far so good. "Pigs are usually killed
26 using high voltage head to body stunning which causes
cardiac arrest".
27
I do not ask you about the truth of that general statement
28 so far as the world at large is concerned. What I ask you
is this: In the establishment which you visited which is
29 GD Bowes in Norfolk, which is the only, or one of the very
few at any rate, establishment from which McDonald's takes
30 any pig meat, were they doing that?
A. No.
