Day 108 - 27 Mar 95 - Page 18

     
     1
     2   MS. STEEL:  How is that visible?
     3        A.  A little hole that if it had stayed much longer would
     4        have become -- once blood is drawn cannibalism very often
     5        follows.
     6
     7   Q.   Right.  What are the other things that you have noticed
     8        about this?
     9        A.  To go back to the cannibalism, when they are
    10        defeathered the vent is exposed far more.  In a normal
    11        proper farmyard hen, if you like, they have a very fluffy
    12        rear end which protects the appearance of the vent which
    13        when they lay an egg becomes red and distended and then
    14        this can attract cannibalism and does.  Vent pecking very
    15        often marks the beginning of serious damage or
    16        cannibalism.  This is because they are exposed and also, of
    17        course, congested and unable to escape from each other to
    18        lay.
    19
    20   Q.   What are the other problems that you have seen with battery
         chickens?
    22        A.  Feet disorders are quite common.  Sometimes corns, if
    23        you like, underneath and deformed feet and then just this
    24        inability to walk.  We have it on our video, both our
    25        videos, "Sentenced for Life" and "Hidden Suffering".  There
    26        is a scene with a very poorly feathered bird being put out
    27        to grass for the first time and they are just very, very
    28        cautious and very like, to my mind, prisoners let out.
    29        They look totally bewildered by their surroundings and
    30        fearful, but they very soon, of course, learn to carry out
    31        their behavioural patterns normally.
    32
    33   Q.   The first time that you purchased chickens, end of lay
    34        chickens, were you surprised by the conditions that they
    35        were in?
    36        A.  Yes, I was surprised by the degree. We bought them from
    37        a small slaughter house in Petticoat Lane in London, and,
    38        yes, the sheer terrible smell that adhered to them was what
    39        struck me most.  There was really a stench and it was quite
    40        dreadful and the condition of the birds was very poor as
         well.  I did not expect it to be good, but I was struck
    42        very forcibly by the terrible smell that clung to them for
    43        actually hours, if not days, afterwards.
    44
    45   Q.   Did you take these chickens to any official body?
    46        A.  Yes, we took them the next day to the Ministry of
    47        Agriculture.  Their animal welfare headquarters was in
    48        Chessington in Surrey in those days before it moved to
    49        Tolworth and we took them there.
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Where are we talking about now when this 
    52        happened? 
    53        A.  1973 I think.
    54
    55   Q.   197?
    56        A.  1973, yes.
    57
    58   MS. STEEL: What was their response?
    59        A.  It was defensive. We saw the chief vet, who was a Mr.
    60        Jackson at that stage, and another official who was the