Day 108 - 27 Mar 95 - Page 02

     
     1                                           Monday, 27th March 1995
     2
     3   MISS STEEL:  Thank you for the delay.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you want to call Miss Druce?
     6
     7                  MRS. CLARE CATHERINE DRUCE, affirmed
     8                       Examined by The Defendants
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  How would you like to be addressed, Miss,
    11        Mrs. or Ms?
    12
    13   THE WITNESS:  "Mrs."
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:  Can you give your full name and address to the
    16        court, please?  Can you give your address?
    17        A.  Hollin Brigg House, Holunbridge, Huddersfield.
    18
    19   Q.   Sorry, if you could keep your voice up?
    20        A.  Right.
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You are co-founder of Chickens' Lib and
    23        National Organiser of FAWN; is that right?
    24        A.  Yes.
    25
    26   MS. STEEL:  Can you tell us your current position, please?
    27        A.  I am National Organiser of the Farm Animal Welfare
    28        Network which incorporates chickens.
    29
    30   Q.   Can you give us examples or can you say what type of work
    31        and activity Chickens' Lib or FAWN is involved in?
    32        A.  We have researched into the poultry industry very
    33        widely by various means.  We have bought a great many
    34        birds, mainly battery hens, for various reasons.  I have
    35        done a great deal of reading, research and we have used
    36        this for educational purposes.  We have done a lot of work
    37        sending video.  Our latest video, for instance, went into
    38        over over a thousand schools in this country and the
    39        Republic of Ireland last year.
    40
         I have kept poultry myself extensively for many years,
    42        studied their behaviour.  I think that is the main thrust
    43        of it, looking deeply into the background of the industry
    44        which often is not at all apparent to the general public.
    45
    46   Q.   Do you have any formal qualifications for your work
    47        concerned with poultry welfare?
    48        A.  No, I am qualified to teach the clarinet.
    49
    50   Q.   Could you just give us some more detail of your experience 
    51        and expertise with regard to poultry, the poultry industry 
    52        and poultry welfare? 
    53        A.  We started our campaigning in the early 1970s.  It
    54        began by just looking into the question of poultry welfare
    55        because I read Ruth Harrison's book, "Animal Machines",
    56        which, in fact, sparked off the formation of the Brambell
    57        Committee.  It really took the lid of what was happening to
    58        factory farmed animals, so-called, and that alerted me to
    59        the conditions of animals.
    60