Day 088 - 13 Feb 95 - Page 33
1 starting from the stunning pigs, Mr. Bowes, when
2 Dr. Gregory was at your factory he saw pigs being stunned
3 singularly, is it always so?
4 A. Not necessarily always so.
5
6 Q. What is the maximum number of pigs that might be in a
7 stunning pen at any one time?
8 A. Absolute maximum, three.
9
10 Q. So far as you can tell, does it have any implications for
11 the welfare of the animals that there is more than one of
12 them in the stunning pen at a time?
13 A. Yes, definitely.
14
15 Q. In which sense?
16 A. Again we come to comfort, it is a comfort of numbers
17 there, you know, together they -----
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Voice up again, please, Mr. Bowes.
20 A. Sorry, it is a question of comfort and it is the
21 fellowship of the other animals that is beneficial to them.
22
23 MR. RAMPTON: Does the fact that there is more than one,
24 sometimes as many as three, create any awkwardnesses or
25 difficulties for the people that are doing the stunning?
26 A. Not with well-trained personnel.
27
28 Q. When you have three pigs in the pen, how many men would you
29 have?
30 A. Two.
31
32 Q. Can you explain -- I know it is difficult -- as best you
33 can how the operation is handled when you have got, let us
34 say, three pigs and two men?
35 A. It is with the pigs coming into the pen, they will flow
36 behind the person with the stunning tongs, and I come
37 around and the first pig, you put the stunning tongs on the
38 head and drop it on to his leg and that gently goes down.
39 The second pig, it will be in the pen, and it can come and
40 the third pig likewise. The pen is big enough so there is
41 room enough for them to be there and it does not cause any
42 distress, in our opinion.
43
44 Q. What is the job of the second man in the pen?
45 A. To what we call shackle the pig.
46
47 Q. When it has been stunned?
48 A. Yes. He droves the pig gently round to the man who is
49 stunning. Just with his hand on the back, he just touches
50 it on the back with his hand to bring it round to the point
51 where it is stunned.
52
53 Q. So they travel round and, in effect, each one is ambushed
54 in turn in a sense?
55 A. If you wish to use that expression, sir, yes.
56
57 Q. The pig is not expecting it?
58 A. No, that is correct.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: They are all done before one is shackled, are
