Day 049 - 09 Nov 94 - Page 33

     
     1        sentient --  well, we are all sentient creatures -- were
     2        actually fully conscious.  I said in a survey by the RSPCA
     3        53 percent of young bulls were.  That is a general
     4        statement for the conditions in the UK.
     5
     6   Q.   I still want to know -- apart from the chickens having to
     7        live inside a nice warm shed, away from parasites and
     8        predators -- where the impurities in McDonald's lies in
     9        relation to the treatment of the animals which are used in
    10        making their products?
    11        A.  Well, at the risk of repeating myself, it is just the
    12        general conditions that have been illustrated there.  I
    13        have seen nothing to show me that McDonald's treat their
    14        animals any better than the average intensive farmer in
    15        Britain and they do not kill them in any different
    16        abattoirs.  It is generally the same.
    17
    18   Q.   Have you ever visited a McDonald's abattoir?
    19        A.  I have visited an abattoir.  I do not know if it was a
    20        McDonald's abattoir.  From my understanding, what I have
         been told is that McDonald's use the same abattoirs as
    22        other companies, use the EEC registered abattoirs in
    23        Britain.
    24
    25   Q.   You said at some stage in your evidence -- again, it may
    26        have been while the screen was down, I do not know -- that
    27        you observed that the children felt it hypocritical to go
    28        to McDonald's because of bad publicity, or words to that
    29        effect.  Do you remember saying that?
    30        A.  Yes, I do.
    31
    32   Q.   What did you mean by that?
    33        A.  I meant that, with some children, if they -- or
    34        teenagers more in this case -- if they became a vegetarian,
    35        they thought that they should not go into McDonald's
    36        because they had heard bad publicity, generally, that
    37        McDonald's kill animals, are responsible for destroying the
    38        environment and, therefore, they thought it would be
    39        hypocritical as a vegetarian to visit the chain store.
    40
    Q.   They would have heard that sort of publicity from people
    42        like you, would they not?
    43        A.  I do not specifically target McDonald's in what I say.
    44
    45   Q.   You do not think that film targets McDonald's?
    46        A.  It does mention the Big Mac, I agree with that.
    47
    48   Q.   No doubt you discussed that film in detail with the
    49        children, or did you, when you had shown it to them, and
    50        they all said, "We go to McDonald's", no doubt you 
    51        discussed the film in the context of McDonald's? 
    52        A.  No, very rarely do you discuss the whole film in the 
    53        context of McDonald's.  McDonald's would usually only come
    54        up at the questions and answers at the end, when they were
    55        talking about the practicalities of being a vegetarian and
    56        not feeling normal in not going there.
    57
    58   Q.   No doubt if they said, "Do McDonald's really do that sort
    59        of thing to animals", you would you have said, "Yes, of
    60        course they do"?