Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 35
1 MS. STEEL: Page 21, line 55.
2
3 On the subject of the stocking density, despite the fact
4 that Mark Patteson was on the committee of the Farm Animal
5 Welfare Council, which had produced the report on the
6 welfare of broiler chickens for the government,
7 Mr. Patteson accepted that Sun Valley are not complying
8 with its recommendations, that being the recommendation
9 which is found on page 10 of the report on the welfare of
10 broiler chickens. I cannot actually remember the reference
11 for it. I do not know if you need it. I can find it, if
12 you want me to. (Pause)
13
14 It is actually defendants' supplementary list of documents,
15 bundle 2, document 27. And paragraph 23 of that report on
16 page 10 says: We therefore recommend that 34 kilograms per
17 meter square is retained as the maximum stocking density
18 which should not be exceeded at any time during the growing
19 period and that this maximum is controlled by regulation as
20 soon as possible.
21
22 Despite being on the committee which made that
23 recommendation, Mr. Patteson seems to think that it need
24 not apply to Sun Valley whose stocking density in the --
25 well, he said it was generally 36.5 kilograms per meter
26 square. That was on day 89, page 39, line 54. In actual
27 fact, when Dr. Gregory visited the unit which he saw, and
28 this is on page 4 of his statement, records that he had
29 calculated that the stocking density for that shed was 36.7
30 kilograms per meter square.
31
32 Dr. Patteson accepted that the birds have less space each
33 than an A4 sheet of paper, but he said that he did not
34 believe it was cruel. Well, that is his opinion. We
35 certainly do believe it is cruel and we think that a great
36 number of people would believe that it was cruel if they
37 were aware of it. In our view, that undermines his
38 credibility with regards to being able to judge cruelty
39 when he cannot even accept the recommendations made by a
40 committee which he is part of, which are really the minimum
41 recommendations which are set, taking into consideration
42 economic factors, not solely welfare factors. Obviously,
43 if priority was given to welfare factors, the stocking
44 density would be much, much lower.
45 When we asked Dr. Patteson about why the company had not
46 reduced stocking density, he agreed that economics were a
47 very important factor. In fact, he said a cause.
48
49 On the same page of the Farm Animal Welfare Council Report
50 on the welfare of broiler chickens, that is page 10, under
51 21B it says that any bird wishing to move from a crowded
52 area to a more open space should be able to do so. And
53 again, Dr. Patteson admitted that at Sun Valley, towards
54 the end of their days the chickens would not be able to do
55 that, and he agreed that in the last three or four days
56 that maybe they would not be able to move from a crowded
57 area to more open space. So that is a second breach of the
58 recommendations. (Pause)
59
60 Initially, when we asked Dr. Patteson about why the
