Day 289 - 29 Oct 96 - Page 30
1 And Dr. Gregory said that both he and the RSPCA agree that
2 the best method to use would be the stun-kill method.
3 Sun Valley Poultry are not using that method basically
4 because they say it causes a higher prevalence of quality
5 problems with the carcass. So that is financial
6 considerations again coming before the welfare of the
7 birds.
8
9 I mean, the evidence on current got quite complicated,
10 because Sun Valley were using a different kind of current,
11 a different ----
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: They were using a different wavelength.
14
15 MS. STEEL: Yes, a different wavelength. Basically the level
16 of current they were using was way below what Dr. Gregory
17 and other welfare bodies recommend, but because it was a
18 different wavelength, it was not known whether or not the
19 same considerations applied to the welfare of the birds.
20
21 So, I mean, effectively Sun Valley are experimenting on the
22 birds and using methods which may very well be causing pain
23 and distress for the birds, when they could be using the
24 stun-kill method as recommended by the RSPCA and by
25 Dr. Gregory and by other welfare organisations.
26
27 Dr. Gregory did say that the current they were using was
28 highly unlikely to induce a cardiac arrest. That was on
29 page 20 of the same day. He said a high frequency such as
30 500 hertz is very unlikely to induce cardiac arrest even at
31 high current levels, and at low current levels, it
32 certainly was not going to.
33
34 And I asked at line 18 on page 20: Is it not more likely
35 that some birds are not going to be stunned at all. He
36 said: The lower the current you give a bird, the less
37 likely it is to stun, yes. (Pause)
38
39 I do not know whether it might be helpful to have a break
40 now.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Five minutes.
43
44 (Short Adjournment)
45
46 MS. STEEL: In the statement of Dr. Gregory he refers to 0.7
47 percent of the birds showing a reflex response between the
48 stunner and the neck cutter to manually putting their heads
49 down. And he says: In this situation if a bird is
50 conscious it will show reflex withdrawal of the head. This
51 is referred to on day 20, page 22 of the transcript. He
52 could not remember how many birds he had tested to get that
53 0.7 percent. I asked him a question about it would
54 represent 942 birds a day. That was based on 35 million
55 being killed in a year. That 35 million being killed in a
56 year, I cannot remember where that figure comes from, but
57 it works out differently if you use the figure given by Dr.
58 Pattison of 170,000 birds being slaughtered a day, then
59 that is 1,190 birds every day who would show a reflex
60 reaction and therefore that would indicate that they were
