Day 290 - 30 Oct 96 - Page 07

     
     1        novel experience and it would cause suffering in the sense
     2        of extreme stress.  She said that they did not think there
     3        would be any doubt about that in anybody's mind.
     4
     5        She also said, and this is from her statement, that the
     6        slaughter of broiler chickens is often unsatisfactory from
     7        the welfare point of view, with the effectiveness of
     8        electric stunning and neck cutting in question.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Is this in addition?
    11
    12   MS. STEEL:   Yes, it is an additional point.  It is from her
    13        statement.  She referred to a report in 1993 by Compassion
    14        in World Farming, a report on the welfare at slaughter of
    15        broiler chickens, and Dr. Henry Carter, in the foreword to
    16        this report, and he is the past president of the Royal
    17        College of Veterinary Surgeons and chairman of the European
    18        Conference Group on the Protection of Farm Animals, he
    19        wrote in his foreword:  This report by the Compassion in
    20        World Farming Trust highlights the fact that the procedures
         in far too many poultry slaughter houses do not ensure that
    22        the birds are adequately stunned, leaving an unknown number
    23        alive and some still conscious when they enter the scalding
    24        tank.  Obviously, we say that the stunning and slaughter
    25        methods at Sun Valley have been shown to be completely
    26        inadequate, so that applies to them as well.  (Pause)
    27
    28        I am just checking my note.  (Pause)
    29
    30        Relating to the slaughter process, she said about the
    31        practice at Sun Valley of severing the spinal cord.  She
    32        referred to a British Poultry Science Report 1986, produced
    33        by Gregory and Wotton, which said that severing the spinal
    34        cord is probably the neck cutting method of choice in many
    35        processing plants because it facilitates feather release at
    36        plucking.  She said: "Which I think shows that some poultry
    37        slaughter is putting economic considerations well in
    38        advance of humane considerations".  That was on day 109,
    39        page 16.
    40
         Can I just refer to day 109, page 10 of the transcripts,
    42        when I asked Mrs. Druce about the fact that Sun Valley were
    43        not complying with the Codes of Practice in relation to the
    44        slaughter in terms of either using a stun kill method or
    45        cutting both carotid arteries.  She said she thought it was
    46        a very serious matter because the system used at Sun Valley
    47        does seem to be open to a great many mistakes, and of
    48        course if these were proved at any point the fact that they
    49        were not taking any notice of the Codes of Practice would
    50        go against them in a court of law very badly, so I think it 
    51        is a very serious matter. 
    52 
    53        And then I asked:  "So it is not actually an offence not to
    54        comply with the Codes of Practice?"  She said: No, but it
    55        would be something that would be taken into consideration
    56        if they were accused of an offence.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Is that page 10?
    59
    60   MS. STEEL:   Yes, that is all on page 10.  On that page, she