Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 45
1 form of torture. They do not know how they can get away,
2 how they can escape. There are all sorts of unfamiliar
3 surroundings.
4
5 I think that this is a case where an enormous amount of
6 work by animal welfarists is now paying attention to the
7 design of lorries, the space between partitions within
8 lorries, as I have mentioned, the steepness of ramps, the
9 lighting in the lorries, the ventilation, because it is
10 more and more recognised that this stress occurs.
11
12 Q. Going on to arriving at the slaughterhouse -- we had this
13 with cows yesterday -- do pigs walk willingly to slaughter?
14 A. Not in my experience.
15
16 Q. Is the situation the same as with cows or is it -----
17 A. It is more difficult. They run about. It is rather
18 similar with dogs. You can imagine, if you took a load of
19 dogs to a slaughterhouse, they would not know what it was
20 all about and you opened up the gates, they are pretty
21 lively, and they want to get out. You have to take a great
22 deal of care they do not fall off the ramp if the sides are
23 not right and they do not get away and cause general
24 commotion. So, they are generally much livelier, much more
25 excitable.
26
27 Q. Apart from that, is it much the same as the concerns with
28 cattle about like to escape?
29 A. You are talking now about up to the stunning area, are
30 you?
31
32 Q. Yes.
33 A. I did mention this morning about efforts that are being
34 made to reduce the human content in that process, the
35 attempts to overcome that hostile influence.
36
37 Q. But where those are not in place, those would be welfare
38 concerns, would they?
39 A. Yes.
40
41 Q. What other particular concerns are there with the stunning
42 of pigs, in terms of welfare?
43 A. The main points are that, is the equipment actually
44 delivering the electric shock that you are expecting. So,
45 the first point you have to make sure that the gauges and
46 what-not are doing the required thing. The other points
47 are that there still seems to be some debate about exactly
48 how many volts and how many amps are needed. But the
49 general recommendation for British slaughterhouses are that
50 1.3 amps should be used.
51
52 If the tongs are not placed in the right position, you may
53 get enough shock with a lower amperage -- sorry, if they
54 are placed in the right position you might get a proper
55 shock in the lower, with a lower amperage, but the trouble
56 is with many places, the tongs go on around the neck and
57 you need a higher current because otherwise there will not
58 be sufficient current going through the brain to knock it
59 out. So, the general suggestion is that there should be
60 1.3 amps. So, if this situation with the tongs is
