Day 103 - 14 Mar 95 - Page 56
1 it is very scientific.
2
3 MS. STEEL: You would accept that the time to brain failure is
4 unduly long and there is a danger that the birds may regain
5 consciousness before they die?
6 A. I do not think I would accept that because I have not
7 seen that by observation. I think there is a difference
8 between scientific postulation and actual practical
9 reality.
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not forget this is an article written by
12 Dr. Gregory. That paragraph refers to another article
13 written by Dr. Gregory and really all that does at most is
14 to take me back to the evidence Dr. Gregory has actually
15 given in relation to this case.
16
17 MS. STEEL: Part of the problem is we did ask Dr. Gregory if
18 experiments have been done on DC stunning and he said no.
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The fact is I have got Dr. Gregory's answers
21 which I will look at as part of the evidence in the case.
22 It is very difficult, in fact I am sure I cannot do it, the
23 Court of Appeal's judgment has said as much which I think
24 I have referred to more than once in this case, I cannot
25 take a learned article which has not been specifically
26 averred by one of the scientific witnesses in preference to
27 the evidence of scientific witnesses; even more so I cannot
28 take something written by Dr. Gregory to carry weight in so
29 far as it may be different to what he has actually said in
30 the witness box. If you call someone who relies upon it,
31 then the evidence of that witness will become part of the
32 material in the case. In any event, as I have said, part
33 of the paragraph is the last sentence in the paragraph,
34 take it all as a bundle of comment.
35
36 MS. STEEL: That is a big "if". It does not appear that
37 anything has been investigated on that front.
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It takes me back to Dr. Gregory's evidence.
40
41 MS. STEEL: But then he said that they had not investigated DC
42 currents, so there would not be anything on that anyway.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am trying to make the point because I do
45 not want you to be under any allusion about it, that an
46 article like this is not free-standing evidence in its own
47 right.
48
49 MS. STEEL: No, I understand that. If you could turn over to
50 the following document, Dr. Gregory recommends there a 120
51 milliamps per bird as an acceptable current of DC current.
52 What would you say to that?
53 A. All I can say is that that is why we asked him in to
54 look at our system, to see if he could determine whether it
55 was working acceptably. He came to the conclusion that it
56 was.
57
58 Q. Well, he said it was not ideal from a welfare point of
59 view.
60 A. Well, all I can repeat is what I have already said. At
