Day 109 - 28 Mar 95 - Page 14
1 MS. STEEL: Sorry. (To the witness): You have mentioned the
2 level of prestun shocks on the previous page to that. On
3 page 316, is there any part you feel would be relevant?
4 A. Well .....
5
6 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I do not mind in the least bit, there
7 being numerous leading questions already, I would much
8 prefer, for the sake of speed, that Ms. Steel should simply
9 point Mrs. Druce to the parts which they have already
10 agreed, no doubt, by discussion, of the report. It would
11 be much quicker.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. If you know what it is, take Mrs. Druce
14 straight to it. I appreciate on some occasions you have
15 that thought there might be something and you wanted her to
16 identify it for you, but if you know it, identify it
17 straightaway.
18
19 MS. STEEL: Yes. (To the witness): At paragraph 24?
20 A. Yes.
21
22 Q. Will you refer to -----
23 A. It describes faults leading to birds receiving prestun
24 shocks as unacceptable and it stresses that they must be
25 corrected.
26
27 Q. Do you think that it would be acceptable to have 13.5 per
28 cent of the birds receiving prestun shocks?
29 A. No, certainly not.
30
31 Q. Dr. Pattison, when he was talking about shackles, the
32 shackles that were used prior to splitting the lines for
33 males and females, said that male birds' legs would not
34 have been forced into the shackles -- it would not have
35 been uncomfortable because they gradually got narrower
36 towards the bottom; is there that anything you want to say
37 in respect of that?
38 A. On page 12 of the same code, Slaughter Code, there is a
39 diagram, figure 1, figure 2, figure 3. Figure 3 is
40 described as "unsatisfactory" and that is the kind that
41 Dr. Pattison was describing which go into a V shape so that
42 they accommodate virtually any size of bird.
43
44 Q. I believe there is a reference to that at the bottom of
45 page 11 of the document that might be worth going through?
46 A. Yes, it says that these figure 3 shackles should be
47 avoided -- "Shackles with slots narrowing", this is at the
48 very bottom of page 11, "Shackles with slots narrowing
49 towards their base should be avoided as these may cause
50 pinching of the birds' shanks (fig 3)."
51
52 Q. Dr. Pattison, I think, stated that the MAFF had permitted
53 Sun Valley to use the current stunning method, the present
54 stunning method, to avoid any confusion on the basis of
55 visual checks that they have made, where he said they
56 considered that the stunning was providing -- sorry, the
57 stun bath was providing an adequate stun, and that was on
58 the basis of visual observation. Would you have any
59 comment to make about that?
60 A. I have had the impression, I have gathered the
