Day 088 - 13 Feb 95 - Page 50
1 no less than 1.3 amperage. This must be attained within 1
2 second and maintained for at least 3 seconds"?
3 A. Yes.
4
5 Q. But when the pig is stunned, presumably it collapses?
6 A. Yes.
7
8 Q. The slaughter man follows it, does it, as it falls with the
9 tongs still in place? I have never seen it happen. Can
10 you paint a picture for me?
11 A. May I take the first point first please, sir?
12
13 Q. Yes?
14 A. The 1.3 is what we call "high voltage stunning" and it
15 is very difficult to achieve that with low voltage
16 stunning, so instead of 3 seconds on low voltage stunning,
17 the actual tongs to be remaining on the head should be a
18 minimum of 7 seconds and that is what is recommended in the
19 Humane Slaughter Association procedures. I am now trying
20 to describe how you stun the pig. Is that what you would
21 like to know, sir, the actual physical -----
22
23 Q. Well, I have had it explained to me how the tongs are put
24 on the pig's head. By all means say that again, but the
25 picture I want is what are the actual physical movements
26 which are gone through when the current goes through the
27 pig's head, precisely what happens to the pig?
28 A. Right. First of all, the tongs are of a scissor-type.
29 They may operate like this on the pig's head, so when the
30 pig travels around the stunning pen it comes round quietly
31 and as it gets -- and there is a little gate here, sir, and
32 pigs will you go to a gate to have a look through. That is
33 another little deceptive mark for the pig. You then get
34 the tongs and you clip it around the skull trying to get it
35 across the eyes here, across the temple. Sometimes it is
36 not possible to hit the spot every time, it must be
37 admitted that, but because the pig is wet, the stunning is
38 initially instant. Then as the pig crawls down the
39 stunning person's leg, and that is part of it so the pig
40 does not crash to the floor, the tongs, as the head goes
41 down, comes around so it is over the eye and the back of
42 the head so you have a direct route through the brain.
43
44 Q. They are then held in place for 7 seconds?
45 A. 7 seconds, yes. With experience, one can see when the
46 animal is stunned, sir.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Thank you.
49
50 Cross-Examined by the Defendants.
51
52 MS. STEEL: You said the company's own herd of sows consists of
53 about 6,000 sows; is that right?
54 A. 6,300.
55
56 Q. Right. Of those, how many go to slaughter each week?
57 A. How many sows go to slaughter?
58
59 Q. Yes.
60 A. That varies.
