Day 092 - 27 Feb 95 - Page 67
1 Q. Well, the tests that you are aware of with them flicking a
2 switch, what did they find?
3 A. I have seen a lot of tests. They find a lot of things.
4 Can you be more specific on your question?
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is being put to you -- or I think what
7 is being put to you -- is that whatever else you say about
8 it the chicken has enough sense, if that itself is the
9 right word, to make a choice as to when it wants the light
10 on and the light off?
11 A. Yes. If you train him they can do that, yes.
12
13 MS. STEEL: So they are not stupid?
14 A. I did not say they were stupid. I did say they are not
15 like humans.
16
17 Q. We know they are not like humans, but that does not mean
18 they have not got any wisdom at all and they have no
19 feelings at all, does it?
20 A. You do not seem to be listening to what I have said.
21 I never said that.
22
23 Q. How do you know that when they are born the first thing
24 that moves they think that is their parents?
25 A. There is tonnes of research to do with that.
26
27 Q. How do you know they do not just attach on it because it is
28 something that is familiar?
29 A. No. There is plenty of evidence to document that. You
30 could be their parents. If you want to just incubate a
31 chicken, a goose, let it hatch, if the goose sees you move
32 first he will think you are the parent.
33
34 Q. Even if the mother goose is standing right next to you?
35 A. If he does not move, yes.
36
37 Q. So you are saying that all the chickens in the hatcheries
38 all think that each other are their parents?
39 A. Pretty much, yes.
40
41 Q. How do you know that if a chicken is putting on weight it
42 is happy?
43 A. It is happy?
44
45 Q. Yes.
46 A. OK. We had plenty of discussions about this subject.
47 Again I will tell you why. Weight is just one of the
48 factors. You have again to look at the entire picture.
49 You have to look at the animal. You have to look at the
50 environment. You have to look at what it is producing,
51 whether it is eggs or if it is weight. Weight is an
52 indicator of an animal that is healthy.
53
54 Q. But how do you know that it is happy?
55 A. "Happy" is pretty much a human expression.
56
57 Q. Well, it is what you have said?
58 A. Yes.
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He immediately retracted the use of that
