Day 289 - 29 Oct 96 - Page 32


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Was there any evidence on that, whether
     3        speed would make any difference to that?
     4
     5   MS. STEEL:   No, but the point is that if people are putting the
     6        birds on the line faster and the line is going faster, then
     7        the birds are more likely to be flapping about and
     8        therefore less likely to get stunned, you know, if they are
     9        -----
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   That is the way I thought it would be, and a
    12        bird has to flap for less length of time because it passes
    13        over the bath more quickly.  But did we actually have any
    14        evidence about that to say one way or the other?
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:   What?
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Whether going quicker or slower increases
    19        the risk.  I mean, we did have some evidence with regard to
    20        pre-stun shocks, and I can see with some other matters one
    21        can draw a common sense conclusion.
    22
    23   MS. STEEL:   Yes.  No, no, the point I am making is that I mean
    24        the stunning occurs fairly soon after the birds are put on
    25        the line, and if there is an inspection going on and
    26        therefore people are taking more care about how they are
    27        hanging the birds on the line, they are less likely to be
    28        flapping around and missing the stun bath.
    29
    30   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What do I draw that conclusion from?  You say
    31        that is just common sense, do you?
    32
    33   MS. STEEL:   Yes.
    34
    35   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No witness was asked about that, were they,
    36        or were they?
    37
    38   MS. STEEL:   We asked Dr. Gregory about whether or not people
    39        would, you know, try and follow the procedures properly or
    40        more carefully if there was an inspection going on, and he
    41        said, yes.
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I appreciate that, but no one then went on to
    44        ask him: "And if that happened would it be that there would
    45        be less flapping or anything else".  I am just checking
    46        whether there was any evidence on it.
    47
    48   MS. STEEL:   I do not think anyone was specifically asked, but
    49        I would say that it is a matter of common sense, that if
    50        you are charging around in a kind of frantic manner you are 
    51        more likely to disturb the birds and frighten them than if 
    52        you are carefully or more carefully pulling them out of the 
    53        modules and sticking them on the conveyor belt or the
    54        shackle line.
    55
    56   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes, very well.
    57
    58   MS. STEEL:   I mean it is just -- I do not know, we heard
    59        evidence about the fact that hanging them upside down
    60        causes a period of distress.  There is the point about the

Prev Next Index