Day 068 - 16 Dec 94 - Page 64


     
     1        does not mean they will harm the animals.  I have seen the
     2        facilities and they are well kept.  The facility is a US DA
     3        approved facility.  There are inspectors from the United
     4        States that go there and review that.  It is part of their
     5        responsibility to take care of those issues.
     6
     7   Q.   So if they are US DA approved and yet they consider they do
     8        not fulfil quite a number of these categories which you
     9        have extracted from the Humane Slaughter Act, would it be
    10        fair to say that US DA seems to be mainly concerned with
    11        hygiene?
    12        A.  No, that is incorrect.  The US DA Inspector is
    13        responsible for welfare and responsible for carrying out
    14        the Humane Slaughter Act, he has the authority to stop
    15        production.  He has the authority to disapprove the plant,
    16        and before the plant is even approved, there are a lot of
    17        people to look at everything, from the facilities and all
    18        their requirements.  It would be just like you have a plant
    19        in the United States.
    20
    21   Q.   So when you sent out this questionnaire you got all these
    22        replies back, some with lots of yes's and some with lots of
    23        no's, how did it help you in fact?
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Mr. Morris, you know it was sent out because
    26        of this litigation, and whether it helped Dr. Gomez
    27        Gonzalez or not is neither here nor there, is if it gave
    28        certain information which you now have about practices
    29        around the world.
    30
    31   MR. MORRIS:  Let us just finish these off.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you can finish Coope Montecillos or this
    34        one within about the next five minutes, do so; if you do
    35        not think you will be able to, we will call it a day and
    36        you can come back to it on Monday.
    37
    38   MR. MORRIS:  When you received these forms back and you got
    39        no's, did you take any action on all these plants?
    40        A.  Yes, I did.
    41
    42   Q.   What action did you take, in general?  You went to visit
    43        them or asked them to improve?
    44        A.  No, I asked more for clarification.  If I felt there
    45        was a need for me to go there, then I would go there.  Just
    46        like in the case of Costa Rica, I discussed these results
    47        with a lot of people just to clarify and make sure about
    48        the responses and their conditions, just like Mr. Paul
    49        Simmons.
    50 
    51   MR. MORRIS:  I do not think I can finish the rest off in five 
    52        minutes. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, I would rather you stop now.
    55
    56   MR. RAMPTON:  Can I mention two things?   My Lord, in the
    57        affidavit, your Lordship asked about the date of the ruling
    58        that Mr. Nicholson mentioned.  The 25th is a typographical
    59        error for 27th May.  The order bears the same date as the
    60        ruling.

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