Day 066 - 14 Dec 94 - Page 62
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We use it in two ways, really, do we not?
2 But you are using it in open air sense?
3
4 MR. RAMPTON: I am using it in what one might call the
5 sentimental sense or aesthetic sense of outdoors fresh air?
6 A. Open, yes.
7
8 Q. They do not have the sun warming their backs in spring or
9 early summer while they sit in a dust bath, do they?
10 A. Not the sun, that is correct.
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are waxing quite lyrical, Mr. Rampton.
13
14 MR. RAMPTON: My question was (and it was a serious question)
15 whether you had studied the animal welfare implications of
16 a bird inside a cage inside a house ---
17 A. Yes, I have.
18
19 Q. -- to lay eggs, on the one hand, as opposed to a bird free
20 to fly about, sit in the dust, sit in the sunshine and so
21 on and so forth, and lay its eggs wherever it pleases
22 within a given area, which is I think how we might describe
23 a free range chicken in this country.
24
25 Can you tell me what the result of your deliberations on
26 that question has been so far as the welfare of the birds
27 is concerned?
28 A. OK. I am going to start by saying it is very difficult
29 to get information from the animal. That you will
30 understand. I cannot ask it. So, one way where we can
31 assume we could get very good information is at the way
32 that the, looking at the health of the animal. You can
33 look at how the animal looks, how the animal stands, look
34 at the feathers, do they shine, and you can look at the
35 eyes. But there is a very good indication that will tell
36 you everything and that is the weight of the bird.
37
38 Q. Weight?
39 A. The weight of the bird, whether it is broiler or it is
40 an egg-laying hen and also the amount of eggs that it
41 produces. Any stressed animal will suffer and it will show
42 in its appearance, and it will show in its weight and in
43 this case in the amount of eggs. If you stress a laying
44 hen, it will produce less eggs. That is an absolute fact.
45 That could also be applied to just about any other
46 species. A happy hen, a hen that is not under stress, will
47 produce more eggs, will look better and will have a better
48 weight. There has been not only on our side, but there has
49 been a tremendous amount of research done on chickens. You
50 could say to this day we know more about chickens than we
51 know about humans even though we cannot communicate with
52 them. About the diseases, the nutrition, the environment
53 and how that affects the physiology and biochemistry of the
54 animal, there is more known to chickens than there is to
55 humans.
56
57 If an animal grows in a cage from day one and if you look
58 at chickens, most birds when they hatch they associate the
59 parents with the first thing that moves. A chick will see
60 you when it hatches, you become their parents. If they see
