Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 10


     
     1        when necessary.
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Does MAFF have a Chief Veterinary Officer
     4        like the Department of Health has a Chief Medical Officer?
     5        A.  Yes, they do.  His name is Keith Meldrum.  He is the
     6        Chief Veterinary Officer.
     7
     8   MR. RAMPTON:  This may seem an obvious question, Dr. Pattison,
     9        but I think I had better ask it.  Do these MAFF people, or
    10        any of them, have a specific responsibility for animal
    11        welfare?  I am not talking about implications for human
    12        health or efficiency of production, anything of that kind,
    13        I am not talking, as it were, about the industrial aspects
    14        of what you do.  I am talking about the welfare, the
    15        well-being of the animals which you use.  Does any of those
    16        MAFF people have that sort of responsibility or remit?
    17        A.  They do have that remit.  I would say that everybody in
    18        MAFF has some remit for animal welfare.  There are specific
    19        veterinary officers who are part of the animal health and
    20        veterinary group of the Ministry who have very specific
    21        responsibility for welfare, and do a number of unannounced
    22        visits up and down the country as part of their welfare
    23        duties.
    24
    25   Q.   From your contact with those people, is it your impression
    26        or is your impression whether or not they are genuinely
    27        concerned for the welfare of the animals that they see?
    28        A.  My impression is that they have a very genuine concern
    29        for animal welfare.
    30
    31   Q.   Can we turn while you have this document open backwards,
    32        please, to the first page with an ordinary "2" on it which
    33        is about six pages into the document towards the front; the
    34        section headed "Method of Investigation"?
    35        A.  Yes.
    36
    37   Q.   We there see set out in paragraph 7 the FAWC's version (and
    38        I call it that, Dr. Pattison, because the RSPCA's version
    39        is somewhat different, though not perhaps in substance)
    40        sets out the Five Freedoms, do you see that?
    41        A.  Yes, I do.
    42
    43   Q.   I will read them out, if I may?  "First, freedom from
    44        thirst, hunger and malnutrition; second, appropriate
    45        comfort and shelter; third, prevention or rapid diagnosis
    46        and treatment of injury and disease; fourth, freedom to
    47        display most normal patterns of behaviour and, last,
    48        freedom from fear".  I am sorry about this, you should have
    49        by your right elbow a yellow file with a Roman "IX", I
    50        think it is, called "Rearing and slaughter".  Do you have 
    51        that? 
    52        A.  Yes, I have. 
    53
    54   Q.   Can you, please, turn in that to tab 7 where you will find,
    55        or should find, a statement made by Mr. Ashley Bowes, a pig
    56        person.  Behind that if you look -- I am sorry it is not,
    57        I think tabbed -- somewhere behind that statement you
    58        should find a document entitled:  "Freedom Food, the RSPCA
    59        Welfare Standards for Pigs".  Do you have that?
    60        A.  Yes, I have.

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