Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 31
1 include chicks that were still alive in the eggs, and
2 obviously we would consider that to be cruel. That was day
3 90, page 12, line 40. He said that Sun Valley kills 200 to
4 300 unwanted chicks each day by gassing them with carbon
5 dioxide in a sealed 50 gallon drum about the size of a
6 water tub. He said about a hundred chicks go in at a time
7 and the gassing takes 40 to 45 seconds. We did hear
8 evidence ----
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment. (Pause) Did you say 40
11 to 45?
12
13 MS. STEEL: 30 to 45 seconds. I have three references -- no,
14 two references for the section about gassing the chicks,
15 and that is day 89, page 25, line 3, and day 90, page 51,
16 line 29.
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Then you have got the ones which go in last
19 falling on top of the others?
20
21 MS. STEEL: Yes. I mean, obviously, well, we heard evidence
22 I think from Dr. Gregory as well as Clare Druce, about the
23 cruelty of that process. Unfortunately, I have not got the
24 reference for Dr. Gregory.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not worry, I will find that.
27
28 MS. STEEL: We would say that that entire process is indicative
29 of the mentality of Sun Valley, that these chicks are not
30 considered to be living beings, they are just considered as
31 production machines, effectively, which can be disposed of
32 as and when they are no longer wanted.
33
34 We heard about how the broiler breeders had to have their
35 food restricted because basically they are bred for putting
36 on weight. However, the chickens cannot reproduce at the
37 six or seven weeks old that they would normally be
38 slaughtered at, so they have to be kept alive for longer in
39 order to breed and so that they can breed successfully they
40 have to have their food restricted, and it is restricted to
41 quite a severe extent, and that was heavily criticised by
42 Clare Druce when she gave evidence.
43
44 The reference for Dr. Patteson talking about restricted
45 rations I think is day 89, page 22, line 33. He said
46 because they are all broiler strains they do have the
47 potential for putting on weight and also for getting fat.
48 He claimed that there were not any welfare implications in
49 restricting the food and said, "I think it is equally cruel
50 to overfeed an animal if it has the potential to get fat",
51 which we would agree, it is equally cruel, but the reason
52 it is cruel is because they are bred to get fat fast. And
53 obviously that is what happens to the chickens in the
54 normal broiler sheds, not the breeders; they are
55 effectively overfed in order to get them fattened at a
56 faster rate.
57
58 The chicks are transported to the broiler units when they
59 are only a few hours old, and when they arrive they are
60 routinely given antibiotics in their feed for the first
