Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 50


     
     1
     2        I would look at the arrangement.  I have seen all types of
     3        stunning blocks.  One thing that is of particular concern
     4        (and again these are matters that we have referred to the
     5        Farm Animal Welfare Council) is that if it is something
     6        like this and you have a calf down there, well, you can
     7        hardly reach down and that is of concern.
     8
     9        You have also got the concern that if the animal moves (and
    10        this is one reason why you have to shoot more than once)
    11        you are just about, or the slaughterman is just about to
    12        shoot the animal, and it moves its head so the shot goes in
    13        the wrong place and does not complete the stun.
    14
    15   Q.   How often does that happen, from your experience?
    16        A.  That happens fairly often.  In some slaughterhouses an
    17        effort is made with a yoke to hold the head so that it is
    18        less likely to do that, a restrainer, but I have seen
    19        restrainers where the animal's head is held up too high.
    20        They are not properly designed.  In fact, I think it is a
    21        welfare disbenefit rather than a benefit.
    22
    23        But there are at the moment, I do not know whether Neville
    24        Gregory told you this, there are attempts at Bristol to
    25        overcome this particular problem.  So, that is one that
    26        I have seen and one that, obviously, he recognises in
    27        restraining the animal.
    28
    29        There is also the point that some slaughterhouses try to
    30        support the animal from underneath, so that it is less able
    31        to move about and you get a better shot.
    32
    33        So, those are the main things that I would be concerned
    34        with; the actual stunning to make sure that it is, if you
    35        like, taking it to the human condition, it is like a sock
    36        on the jaw, that the animal goes out, slumps down, the
    37        doors are quickly opened -- it is very important to act
    38        expeditiously -- the body comes out on to the floor, and
    39        then it is very important to time how quickly it is hoist
    40        and how quickly the first cut is made, and whether the cut
    41        is that way or that way, because I am not satisfied that
    42        the cross-ways cut which is used in ritual slaughter is
    43        satisfactory.
    44
    45   Q.   Apart from ritual slaughter, because that does not apply to
    46        McDonald's, although it does in other countries, in fact
    47         ---
    48        A.  Yes.
    49
    50   Q.   Bearing in mind it does apply in other countries, in your 
    51        view, what percentage, you know, to any approximation you 
    52        feel you can make, of cattle suffer during the stunning 
    53        process and killing process above and beyond what you have
    54        already identified, up to that point?
    55        A.  The figure that I think has been looked at in detailed
    56        studies at Bristol is that certainly about five years ago
    57        about four per cent of stuns were not properly carried out
    58        on cattle.  That work was done by Neville Gregory and his
    59        group and I think that is the figure.  There was also a
    60        figure for sheep.

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