Day 067 - 15 Dec 94 - Page 10
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Could you just pause there a moment? I would
2 like to find out just a bit more about what the Humane
3 Slaughter Act involves, if that is, essentially, what your
4 specification is because you do not actually have a written
5 animal specification which is the written McDonald's
6 specification; do you understand?
7 A. That is correct.
8
9 Q. Does the Humane Slaughter Act just have some general
10 provision that animals are to be treated humanely, and then
11 the appropriate arm of the administration issue guidelines
12 as to the way that it is expected that the Humane Slaughter
13 Act will be enforced, or something else?
14 A. There is a book, a big book, that includes the Humane
15 Slaughter Act, but if I could summarise the concept or the
16 intent of it, it would be very similar to what you have
17 here as the code of practice where the intent of it is the
18 welfare of the animal. By that it implies that the animal,
19 that reasonable care should be taken to ensure that the
20 animal does not suffer from hunger, from thirst, that it is
21 not subjected to fear, that it will be treated if it shows
22 signs of disease, and that it will have an opportunity to
23 express their normal behaviour. That is the intent of the
24 Humane Slaughter Act.
25
26 Q. Does the Humane Slaughter Act actually have a provision in
27 it to that sort of effect?
28 A. Yes, and that is very -- it is very, very subjective
29 and for that reason it is subject to interpretation.
30
31 Q. That is why they have a code of practice, do they, which
32 goes into more detail?
33 A. To some degree, there are -- some times there are
34 specific -- there are sometimes specific practices that
35 should be followed, that have -- for example, we talked
36 yesterday about the stunning of chickens, that they have to
37 come back to consciousness within a minute, that is
38 specific. Most of the content of the Humane Slaughter Act
39 is not like that and it cannot be like that because the
40 intent is not to focus on any specific moment in times.
41 The intent of it is to concentrate on the welfare of the
42 animal from the time it is born to the time it is
43 slaughtered.
44
45 I could give you an example that I went through: In fact,
46 today, I come from a different country, for me to stand in
47 an unusual environment like this one, it is stressful
48 because I am not familiar with the court or the court
49 proceedings. I never testified before. I come from a
50 different time zone -----
51
52 Q. Yes, I understand that, but what would be the equivalent
53 provision, if any, in either the Humane Slaughter Act or
54 some code of practice issued under the umbrella of the
55 Humane Slaughter Act with regard to animals not being put
56 to unusual or undue stress?
57 A. It does not specify, it does (sic) specify that they
58 have access to water. In this particular case I am not
59 familiar with the amount of time that it takes from the,
60 that the animal arrives at the slaughterhouse and the time
