Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 58
1 Q. But you would recognise that the animals that are reared
2 for McDonald's are not able to do all of those things?
3 A. No, I would not recognise that at all.
4
5 Q. For example, chickens in the battery cages are not able to
6 dust bathe which is a normal pattern of behaviour, we have
7 heard?
8 A. It is a normal pattern of behaviour for farmyard hens,
9 yes, but I do not know whether it is a normal pattern of
10 behaviour for a hen that is bred specifically for use in
11 battery cages.
12
13 Q. You mean one that has spent its whole life in a battery
14 cage?
15 A. Yes, and had generations before it that have done the
16 same.
17
18 Q. So you are defining "normal" as what they are used to, are
19 you?
20 A. I would say freedom to express patterns of behaviour,
21 normal patterns of behaviour, yes -- patterns of behaviour
22 that they would normally express.
23
24 Q. Yes, but when you say "normally", you are judging that in
25 respect of what they are able to express because of their
26 conditions? For example, if you starve a chicken all its
27 life, it is normal for a chicken not to have anything to
28 eat, but that would not mean that it was all right, would
29 it?
30 A. No, I think what "normal" means is that the environment
31 or the method of keeping should not restrict it from any
32 patterns of behaviour that it would express.
33
34 Q. That were natural to its species?
35 A. That were natural to that particular breed of chicken.
36
37 Q. So, if battery chickens did carry out dust-bathing when
38 they were released from battery cages, you would consider
39 that that is something that would be normal behaviour for a
40 battery chicken?
41 A. If that was what they did, then I would guess that --
42 if that is what they did regularly, yes, that would be a
43 normal -- what I would say, I guess, a normal pattern of
44 behaviour.
45
46 Q. So, if that is what happens when chickens are released from
47 battery cages, that would concern you then that because
48 they were in the battery cages they were not able to
49 express normal patterns of behaviour?
50 A. Well, it is a hypothetical question, is it not? I
51 mean, it is my understanding that that is not the case and
52 so it does not concern me.
53
54 Q. In case we do hear evidence that it is the case, would it
55 concern you then that the battery system was limiting the
56 birds' freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour?
57 A. It would be a cause of some concern.
58
59 Q. Would you then instruct your suppliers to stop using
60 battery cages?
