Day 018 - 26 Jul 94 - Page 13

     
     1   Q.   I think you saw, was it, 152 birds?
              A.  For leg weakness grading, I believe so.
     2
         Q.   Did you find any birds in making a gait score of 4 or 5?
     3        Do you want to look at your report?  It is page 4.
              A.  Thank you.  No, I did not.
     4
         Q.   What does gait score 3 indicate?
     5        A.  The bird walks abnormally.  It can sustain distance to
              get around the shed and feed adequately and drink.  It has
     6        a recognisable gait abnormality, so you can say, for
              instance, one leg is at an angle or, you know, you can
     7        actually categorise the type of lameness.  It is a grade
              more severe than No.2, which has the same criteria as
     8        that.  Shall I take you down the scale?
 
     9   Q.   Yes.
              A.  Grade 1, would be, it is slight abnormality.  With
    10        rapid inspection of the bird, it is not easy to categorise
              the actual lesion, for instance, whether it is one leg
         that is lame relative to the other.  So there is an
              abnormality, but it is not easy to classify.  Grade zero,
    12        there is nothing wrong with the bird whatsoever in terms
              of its gait.
    13
         Q.   This is, I anticipate, an extremely difficult question.
    14        If you do not know the answer give as guarded a response
              as you feel appropriate.  Is it possible to judge an
    15        animal, whether it be a cow, pig or chicken, is lame, what
              degree of pain or discomfort it is suffering translated
    16        into human terms?
              A.  Experimentally it is possible to do that.  In a
    17        clinical context such as this it is not very easy.  It is
              a guess.  So I would give guarded observations in that
    18        context.
 
    19   Q.   Would it be -- what is the word -- responsible, perhaps
              ethical, to assume that a bird which has a gait score of 4
    20        or 5 is suffering a degree of pain or discomfort?
              A.  I have been informed by pathologists, veterinary
         pathologists, that in the case of osteomyelitis, which
              would be the most common cause of grade 4 and 5, that it
    22        is highly likely to be associated with pain.
 
    23   Q.   With pain?
              A.  Correct.
    24
         Q.   Therefore, as a person concerned with the welfare of farm
    25        animals, you would wish to see that kind of gait score
              avoided, so far as possible? 
    26        A.  Yes. 
  
    27   Q.   Can we look at the scores which your observations
              recorded?  I will read them.  You will tell me whether
    28        they are accurate.  I will go up from the bottom.  There
              were 39 per cent of the 152 birds that you examined
    29        without any score at all?
              A.  Yes.
    30
         Q.   There were 30 per cent, so we have got up to 69 per cent,