Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 32

     
     1        A.  I believe you.
     2
     3   Q.   Mr. Pattison -- Dr. Pattison said that the mortality rate
     4        was 6 per cent.  Are you aware of that?
     5        A.  The mortality rate for the male bird would be 6 per
     6        cent, I believe.
     7
     8   Q.   It went up to 6.6 per cent.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Why not take around 5 per cent for the
    11        purpose of what you want to put and then we can do any
    12        arithmetic later.  Then put your point, say, on that
    13        basis.  It would be about 1.2 million.
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:   If over a million birds -----
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Maybe a bit more, one and a third million;
    18        something like that; 1.3 million.
    19
    20   MS. STEEL:  If over a million birds are dying every year before
         they get to -- before they even get to the slaughter plant
    22        where obviously the rest of them are dying, if they are
    23        dying from leg problems, other diseases, whatever, you are
    24        happy to have that many million birds dying; that does not
    25        trouble you?
    26        A.  I did not say I am happy to have them dying.  I think
    27        birds dying is a fact of life, and whatever you do is going
    28        to happen.  It is not necessarily a function of the way
    29        they are kept or where they are kept; birds die.
    30
    31   Q.   So, are you saying that McDonald's does consider this
    32        system, the broiler house system, to be humane?
    33        A.  Yes.
    34
    35   Q.   It does, right.  Does McDonald's consider keeping battery
    36        chickens five to a cage with even less space than the
    37        broiler chickens get with much less space than an A4 sheet
    38        of paper, do you consider that to be humane as well?
    39        A.  Some of our battery hens would be five to a cage;
    40        others four to a cage.  That is in my opinion.  I cannot
         speak for the whole of McDonald's.  In my opinion, it is
    42        humane, yes.
    43
    44   Q.   Do you consider it to be humane that birds are not stunned
    45        before slaughter?
    46        A.  Birds are stunned before slaughter.
    47
    48   Q.   If the birds were not stunned, would you consider that to
    49        be inhumane?
    50        A.  I think it is best to have birds stunned before they 
    51        are slaughtered.  But if the method of slaughtering 
    52        afterwards is rapid and effective, then I would call that 
    53        being humane.
    54
    55   Q.   So, it does not trouble you that birds are not stunned
    56        before slaughter, if birds are not stunned before
    57        slaughter?
    58        A.  I would rather they were stunned before slaughter.
    59
    60   Q.   Why -----