Day 092 - 27 Feb 95 - Page 55


     
     1
     2   Q.   No, what I am saying is, is it something, if you care about
     3        the animals' welfare which you say you do, yes, if an
     4        animal dies before it is killed for slaughter, yes ---
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   -- is that something which you do not want to happen for
     8        the animal's benefit?
     9        A.  Of course we do not want that to happen.
    10
    11   Q.   So, if an animal dies early, that is cruel, basically?
    12        A.  No, no.  That is not necessarily cruel.  That happens.
    13        Go around in nature, there are animals that die.  Is that
    14        cruel?  That is nature.
    15
    16   Q.   So it is only if they die because of human decision or
    17        negligence or something, then that would be cruel?
    18        A.  That is my interpretation, yes.
    19
    20   Q.   So the fact that you decide to kill 100 million chickens at
    21        the age of seven weeks old deliberately is cruel, is it
    22        not?
    23        A.  No, it is not.
    24
    25   Q.   But by your definition, it would be?
    26        A.  No, my definition -----
    27
    28   Q.   It would be a conscious decision to terminate the life of a
    29        bird when it is only six or seven weeks old and you make
    30        that decision ---
    31        A.  Yes.
    32
    33   Q.   -- for your profits for your company?
    34        A.  Are you done?
    35
    36   Q.   Is that cruel?
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Ask him a question.
    39        A.  OK.  Now, again, you have to go back and look at the
    40        entire picture.  The fact that we process some animals does
    41        not mean that we are cruel.  We process animals because
    42        there is a need for food.  It is as simple as that.  Now,
    43        you can go back and say that if we do not process the
    44        animals, we are going to starve.  I do not want to debate
    45        the use of food for human consumption.  That is how we
    46        evolve.  Humans evolve eating everything basically, animals
    47        as well as vegetables.  There is a need for that.  That is
    48        how we have evolved.  Are we being cruel?  Ask Mother
    49        Nature.  You can go back on the other side, if we do not do
    50        that, we are going to starve to death -- that is cruel, 
    51        because we have a decision, we have a choice. 
    52 
    53   Q.   You do have a choice.  That is exactly right.
    54        A.  You can go back -----
    55
    56   Q.   I believe you said -- it may have been Mr. Oakley -- that
    57        there was a concern for chickens in the wild would be
    58        subject to predators?
    59        A.  Yes, I talked about that in the past.
    60

Prev Next Index