Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 46
1 inaccurate, you will get a proper stun.
2
3 Now, the other subject that gives us concern is not only
4 with pigs (but pigs provide a good example) is the nature
5 of the immediate shock. What should be achieved is, if
6 I use a human analogy, is an epileptic fit, a grand mal
7 seizure. But you can get in pigs and in other animals what
8 is called curarization which is that the animal is
9 paralysed but can still feel pain but cannot move its legs
10 and cannot cry out.
11
12 Q. Is that something that is a common problem or is that just
13 something that only happens occasionally?
14 A. It happens quite a bit more than uncommon, I would
15 say. It is very difficult to establish if you have not got
16 all the equipment there. I am saying that I am worried,
17 really, that if you are not using 1.3 amps, then there is a
18 much bigger chance that this will happen. The 1.3 amp
19 figure was established by a Dutch group -- I cannot just
20 remember the man's name -- sometime ago. I have seen quite
21 a lot of pigs being stunned with lower amperages.
22
23 I also went to see a demonstration and in that
24 demonstration it was shown that one, I think it was, about
25 one in four of the uses of the tongs led to an imperfect
26 stun. So that was more or less -- that was done with the
27 use of laboratory equipment in the slaughterhouses.
28
29 So, they had to be done again or they had to be given
30 longer. The problem also is that in a rush in a
31 slaughterhouse, if you use a lower amperage, say, you have
32 to give it seven seconds, is the slaughterman going to
33 count to seven? Is there any way in which he can be
34 assured that the tongs are going to stay on for seven
35 seconds?
36
37 What should happen, in my opinion, what I have tried to
38 get, is that at least if this is going to be done, the next
39 pig cannot be slaughtered until the equipment has delivered
40 the necessary charge, so that as soon as any abuses arise
41 they will be halted.
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am interested to know -- I can imagine lots
44 of ways in which almost anything which is done in this
45 world can be done inefficiently with an adverse effect --
46 what I am most concerned about is whether it happens and,
47 if so, to what extent?
48 A. Well, this survey -----
49
50 Q. And where.
51 A. Yes, this survey which gives quantitative results for
52 what I have observed myself, but I have not had such
53 elaborate equipment, was some work that was done at Bristol
54 by, I think it is, Dr. Aniel Hanuk or Dr. Hanuk Aniel, I am
55 not quite sure which the name is, but that has been
56 published, I think. I certainly discussed it with him.
57
58 The question of having fail-safe equipment has been
59 developed, and I think it has been developed by a
60 commercial firm, in order to overcome this problem. It is
