Day 115 - 06 Apr 95 - Page 28
1
2 Q. Of course.
3 A. I am telling you that those are things that worried
4 me. I also would say that there appeared no mention, there
5 was a complete omission, on the welfare of the animals
6 before they arrived. What happened at markets? What
7 happened at the farms where they came from? What was the
8 condition of the animals?
9
10 I noticed that, for instance, there was just a small remark
11 about the dealing with the heads. Well, now that we have
12 had BSE it is a very important matter, from the hygiene
13 point of view, to make sure that these prescribed offals
14 are kept separate. I would have thought in an account of
15 this sort, and if I were there I would have certainly paid
16 a great deal of attention to the adherence to the
17 government's recommendations and insistencies on practices
18 such as that. So, I find errors.
19
20 Q. Dr. Long, may I ask you to pause there? The reason you did
21 not see anything about that in the evidence is that the
22 risk of BSE is no part of this case. We try not to waste
23 time dealing in irrelevant issues. Do you understand that?
24 A. I am sorry, I do not understand that, because this is a
25 very important part of practice. You may not be dealing
26 with cholera or with -----
27
28 Q. Can we stick to animal welfare, please?
29 A. Well, it was hygiene you were asking me about as well.
30
31 Q. We have had plenty of evidence about hygiene.
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think the cross-examination which is being
34 directed at you at the moment is in relation to animal
35 welfare considerations, Dr. Long.
36
37 MR. RAMPTON: That was the question that I opened with in
38 relation to these slaughterhouses.
39 A. Well, then I would say that, of course, although the
40 animals are inspected once they get there, I would want to
41 have far more evidence of the amount of filth on them, the
42 strictness of excluding animals that are filthy,
43 particularly at this time of year when dairy cows are
44 coming out of cubicles. Also, I would need to know much
45 more about how long the animals have travelled, how long
46 they have been in transit, where they had been through the
47 markets and dealers, how many times they had been through
48 that process and where they had been on the farm.
49
50 Q. But you have no other comment to offer about the observed
51 conditions in the slaughterhouses themselves, so I give you
52 every opportunity, so far as animal welfare is concerned.
53 A. To comment on those slaughterhouses?
54
55 Q. I asked you whether you did not think that, given that they
56 are slaughterhouses, they were not both establishments of
57 the best quality so far as the slaughterhouses are
58 concerned?
59 A. As slaughterhouses go now, and on that scale of
60 slaughter, it sounds to me as if they are about par for the
