Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 44
1 included in that definition and in medical terms they are
2 also regarded as antibiotics. They work like other
3 antibiotics, somewhat similarly to penicillin, and so on.
4 So, in my opinion, the farmers are tending to misuse or to
5 omit definition that they should use.
6
7 MS. STEEL: Just going on to transport and slaughter: What are
8 the particular welfare problems with the transportation of
9 pigs? I mean, if they are the same as cattle, then if you
10 just say so and do not go over it again?
11 A. Yes, I think we have discussed this with cattle.
12 I would say generally that pigs are livelier and they are
13 smaller so they can get away. Consequently, the ramps and
14 so on are proportionately bigger for pigs, and I think you
15 probably get worse problems with stumbling and sliding and
16 coming down base over apex, to put it politely. That sort
17 of problem is worse than it is with cattle.
18
19 Q. Do you have the same concerns about the use of goads on
20 pigs as you do on cattle?
21 A. Yes. In fact, I would say even more, that they should
22 not be used even more, because a pig has now, particularly
23 modern pigs, have very little fat and very little coating,
24 whereas cattle have a got a better covering of hair
25 certainly on the backside.
26
27 Q. So it would be more painful to a pig, would it?
28 A. I would think so, yes. They certainly hop about. As
29 I said, I weigh in at about like a pig, and I have tried
30 this on myself and I jolly well did feel it, I can tell you
31 -- perhaps I am not as thick skinned!
32
33 Q. Just on transport of animals, do you think it is fair to
34 compare an animal making a journey with a human making a
35 journey in terms of stress?
36 A. Certain matters are certainly the same. There is a
37 good deal of work in comparing with, say, what we would
38 call motion sickness or sea sickness. Animals are quite
39 different. I think there are differences, according to
40 single stomached animals and multistomached and, of course,
41 poultry. Yes, you have to think about their inability to
42 escape.
43
44 If there is an aversive condition, if they are too hot or
45 they are too cold, there is not much they can do about it,
46 and that possibly puts more stress on them because there is
47 another element you have to remember, that although we
48 might be travelling in a tube train, and we are
49 uncomfortable for a short time, we know that within a short
50 space of time we will be arriving at our destination. We
51 know all this. We know that there will be a cup of tea
52 waiting for us at the end. We are travelling with
53 reassurance.
54
55 Now, an animal is frightened, even to the point of being
56 terrified, if not certainly mystified, by all of this. It
57 has no idea what is going to be at the end of this
58 unpleasant experience. So, that is chronic stress. To
59 those who of us follow behaviour, that is a particularly
60 harsh form of treatment. It is almost like, sort of, a
