Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 09
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2 Then there is the subheading "Murdering a Big Mac".
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4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
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6 MS. STEEL: And the first sentence is: "In the slaughterhouse,
7 animals often struggle to escape". We have heard from
8 various witnesses about the numerous steps taken to prevent
9 animals from escaping and it can hardly be said that the
10 animals are going willingly to slaughter.
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12 In Mr. Lyman's statement, Mr. Howard Lyman, a former cattle
13 rancher who gave evidence for us, he related that "when
14 animals reach the slaughter facility the only concern is to
15 kill as many in as short a period as possible. The animals
16 are terrified at the slaughter plant and the cruelty
17 inflicted on the animal in their last moments on earth is
18 indescribable. I believe if viewing of slaughter was
19 required to eat meat, most folks would become vegetarian."
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21 During his evidence on day 233, page 14, we asked Mr. Lyman
22 to explain what he meant by the animals being terrified,
23 and he said: "The first thing is the smell. If anyone or
24 any animal goes to a slaughter plant, the first indication
25 you are there is the smell. It is much different than
26 anything else. You know exactly what it is."
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28 "The second thing is that when the animals go up the runway
29 to the kill floor, if you stand there and look at them and
30 look at them in the eyes....you see the terror in their
31 eyes as they approach the kill floor. The animal behind
32 the one in front of it being stunned sees what is
33 happening, knows exactly what has happened."
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35 And on page 15, he continues with: "There is no doubt that
36 those animals going onto the kill floor know they are going
37 to die; and they are not pleased".
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39 And then he talks about the standards in the US slaughter
40 houses and he says: "What I am talking about is the
41 absolute standard of the industry. What it is about is:
42 get them in as quickly as possible, kill them as quickly as
43 possible; and the idea of humane slaughter absolutely does
44 not exist."
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46 Dr. Long, who also gave evidence for the defence -- and I
47 will go into his evidence in more detail tomorrow -- was
48 asked about a statement I think which appeared at 234; some
49 official report. This is on day 114, page 15, and the
50 report was quoted at: "At no stage can they see or have
51 contact with their fellow creatures. In our view such
52 handling arrangements prior to stunning often creates a
53 high level of stress, even terror, for the animals." Dr.
54 Long says he would agree with that, "They are certainly
55 frightened to the point of terror, it is a completely alien
56 environment."
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58 I am not sure, that might be pigs. I probably should have
59 read the sentence before the last part that I have referred
60 to. But the next sentence in the leaflet is: "Cattle
