Day 103 - 14 Mar 95 - Page 47


     
     1        stunner, but I am not sure how long we had that in.  I am
     2        very sorry.  I just cannot answer that question.  The whole
     3        point about stunning is it really does not -- the voltage
     4        and the amperage are guidelines only.  The important thing
     5        is that you make the birds unconscious.
     6
     7   MS. STEEL:   Can you explain why the amperage that you use is
     8        way below all the recommendations?
     9        A.  As I have explained, we use a direct current stunner.
    10        The characteristics seem to be different from an AC stunner
    11        and the important thing is that we make the birds
    12        unconscious.  Also, as I have said before, the system has
    13        been regularly inspected by MAFF veterinary officials and
    14        they say it is satisfactory.
    15
    16   Q.   What investigations have they done into using the type of
    17        current that you are using?
    18        A.  The only -- we are the only plant that uses the
    19        particular equipment that we have, so they will not have
    20        done any other investigations.
    21
    22   Q.   So they are taking your word for it that it is OK?
    23        A.  No, they are taking their own observations of how our
    24        plant operates.
    25
    26   Q.   When Dr. Gregory made his visit he said that the fact that
    27        you were severing spinal cords would mask unconsciousness?
    28        A.  He did say that.
    29
    30   Q.   So you are not actually able to tell whilst the birds are
    31        being stunned whether or not it has been effective?
    32        A.  That is a particular observation of a particular
    33        situation.  As well as severing spinal cord, we were also
    34        severing the carotid artery on that side.  In other words,
    35        it was a sideways cut and there is a possibility, as he
    36        said, that you could mask whether birds were recovering
    37        consciousness, but we still observe the correct bleeding
    38        times, so I think it is a relatively academic argument,
    39        personally.  I would also say -----
    40
    41   Q.   That is also against the recommendations, is it not?
    42        A.  I was just going to go on and say (because I knew you
    43        would ask me), we have changed specifically his
    44        recommendation.  We have now changed our system so that we
    45        carry out a ventral cut of the neck, and we could not do
    46        that immediately because we could not identify any very
    47        effective equipment.  Now that we have identified the
    48        equipment, that has been installed and we now carry out a
    49        ventral neck cut which gets away from the possible
    50        criticism that we could have been severing spinal cord and 
    51        not all the major blood vessels. 
    52 
    53   Q.   It was more than you could have been; you were severing the
    54        spinal cord in the vast majority of the cases and you were
    55        not severing the carotid arteries either.
    56        A.  I would not accept that.  We were severing the carotid
    57        artery on one side, including the jugular vein on that
    58        side, plus in some birds the spinal cord.
    59
    60   Q.   Dr. Gregory says one of the carotid arteries in 33 per cent

Prev Next Index