Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 60


     
     1   Q.   It is not look like a sock on the jaw, is it, Dr. Long?  If
     2        I shot your head with a captive bolt pistol it would be
     3        something rather more serious than a sock on the head?
     4        A.  I would certainly not like it.  I think the fact that
     5        one in the past has used a pithing rod to emphasise the
     6        stun makes me feel that the doubt is still there, unless
     7        the animal is pithed for cattle.
     8
     9   Q.   I think you said earlier, and I am not going to disagree
    10        with you, the purpose of the pithing rod, surely, is to
    11        produce a sudden reduction or, indeed, cessation of motor
    12        activity for the sake of the stockman, is it not?
    13        A.  It goes deeper than that.  It causes more damage in the
    14        brain and I think deeper lasting damage.  So I would not be
    15        satisfied that where you get an effective stun you knock
    16        the animal out, the penetration might not be great enough
    17        to prevent its recovering.  I think that with that evidence
    18        I would suggest that one would have very quickly to proceed
    19        with the sticking.
    20
    21   Q.   How long do you think it might take, if it does at all and
    22        it would appear that you do not share your views with
    23        Dr. Gregory but leaving that on one side, how long do you
    24        think it might take for a cattle (I will call it that for
    25        simplicity) to recover consciousness after being
    26        effectively stunned with a captive bolt pistol with
    27        three-grade cartridge in it?
    28        A.  This would imply that the stun might be effective with
    29        a captive bolt pistol that is not working at its best, and
    30        it might be that if the animal were not taken away for
    31        sticking it would recover within, perhaps, two to five
    32        minutes.
    33
    34   Q.   Yes, but that is not an effective stun if the captive bolt
    35        pistol is not working well, either because the cartridge is
    36        not discharging its full power or because the bolt is blunt
    37        or whatever, that is not an effective stun, is it?
    38        A.  I think he are using words of differently.  I am using
    39        two processes: stunning and sticking. The word
    40        "effectively" in my opinion is immediately before the word
    41        "stun" and it means effective to stun it; that is to make
    42        the animal insensible, as it suggests in the regulations
    43        that are put forth, and that the animal is felled.  It is
    44        stunning an felling.
    45
    46   Q.   This much, Dr. Long, is common ground between us, I think.
    47        What I want to know is, supposing everything happens as it
    48        should, there is an effective stun, the animal is rendered
    49        insensible and falls with a chronic spasm in front and back
    50        legs, as it should, what then do you say is the chance of 
    51        its recovering consciousness, is my question? 
    52        A.  Your question is that I cannot give you an odds ratio. 
    53        All I can say is that the possibility does exist.  One has
    54        to test this stun by whether the animal is showing signs of
    55        regular breathing and so on.  The fact that it is still
    56        showing signs of regular breathing means that it could be
    57        recovering.  It would be insensible at that point.  It
    58        would be unable to recognise things but, as I say, it would
    59        be rather like your socking me on the jaw, for that period
    60        I would still be breathing but I would not know what is

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