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

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