Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 48


     
     1        Packers that in their specifications to the drovers they
     2        are trained to be aware of the possibility of cattle trying
     3        to escape.  What comment have you got from what you have
     4        seen about that?
     5        A.  I know of cattle that have escaped into a town from a
     6        slaughterhouse.
     7
     8   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, my Lord.  It was not from the race.
     9        Mr. Morris should make that clear; it was from the lairage.
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think it was from the lairage.
    12
    13   MR. RAMPTON:  Actually, from the unloading to the lairage, I
    14        think.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    17
    18   MR. MORRIS:  What is your view on that which is, basically, do
    19        cattle or do they not try to escape?
    20        A.  They try to escape.  I have known of examples of escape
    21        from markets and of escape from slaughterhouses.  I have
    22        known of examples where they have had to be chased around
    23        the town and eventually shot by a Police marksman.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Does that still happen?  One can remember as
    26        a boy that market day was not really interesting unless a
    27        steer or cow managed to get out into the high street sooner
    28        or later.  Does that happen nowadays?
    29        A.  Occasionally.  It has a difference now because many
    30        slaughterhouses have been moved out of towns so that, you
    31        know, it would be different for that reason.
    32
    33   Q.   The town centre market is by and large a thing of the past,
    34        is it?
    35        A.  Yes.  Many fewer and a number of the smaller
    36        slaughterhouses that used to be within towns have closed
    37        and slaughterhouses and so-called green field sites have
    38        grown bigger factory slaughterhouses.
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS:  The use of goads, what is the welfare concern with
    41        the use of goads apart from you said before it is a symptom
    42        of bad handling or something, for the cow or the cattle it
    43        is used on, what is their metabolic reaction?
    44        A.  Well, it gives them a sting, I imagine it is just the
    45        same as you or me.  If I touched one of those goads it
    46        gives me a shock.  The point about it with cattle is that
    47        it is argued that if they are used at all they should be
    48        used on the hindquarters.  I have seen them applied to more
    49        sensitive parts, particularly of cows where, in fact, the
    50        reaction would be expected to be much worse because there 
    51        is not an insulating mat of hair.  For instance, the udder, 
    52        around the vulva region. 
    53
    54   Q.   But cows, is their biology in that sense the same as us, or
    55        are they more or less sensitive to electric shock?
    56        A.  I am sorry, again scientifically, I could not even tell
    57        whether you are more sensitive in the dentist's chair than
    58        I am.  They are sensitive, that much I know, otherwise they
    59        would not use them.
    60

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