Minutes of evidence taken before the Committee appointed by the Admiralty to consider the humane slaughtering of animals.

  • Great Britain. Committee on Humane Slaughtering of Animals.
Date:
1904
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Minutes of evidence taken before the Committee appointed by the Admiralty to consider the humane slaughtering of animals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    52/62 (page 50)
    Mr. Read {cont.). Captain Inglefield. 50 undoubtedly, the animals are frightened, and others say that there is nothing in it, and it is the most difficult point we really have had to consider ?—I would rather not give an opinion upon this, because those men who are accus- tomed to slaughter must know a great deal more about it than Ido. I remember the time when a sheep used to be killed just directly in front of the pen containing the other sheep, but they do not do that now. There are slaughter- houses in some towns which I should think would be best closed. I remember on one occasion hearing of a biggish child having charge of a little boy, and saying, ‘‘ Now if you are a good boy, I will show you a sheep being killed,” as if it was a great treat. I should think they do all they possibly can to make them private. 1770. Of course that would not be permitted in a public slaughter-house ; that could be only in a private one ?—There are some public slaughter-houses where it might be possible; the children do not get in, but the door is now and then open. 1771. (Mr. Game.) As to the sheep in Texas, they are more what we call the merino breed than anything else, small sheep, are they not? They are nothing like the Lincoln and the Leicester ?—Oh dear me, no; they are more like a mountain breed. 1772. Of course, you being in Norfolk know the Leicester and Lincoln breed; do you think you could break the necks of those sheep without sticking them ?—They break the necks of those sheep after they are stuck very often. 1773. Yes, after they are stuck, but you must remember that a lot of the veins are cut ?—I do not think the veins have much to do with it. 1774. When they pass the knife right through the neck they sever a lot of the veins ?—The veins would not stop the breaking of the neck, would they ? 1775. The question I ask is, do you think they could break the neck of a Lincoln or a Leicester sheep before they had stuck it, by the force of twisting his head ?—I know they do it after the sheep is stuck, and I should fancy they could do it before, but I do not wish to give an opinion on what I know nothing about, for I have never tried it myself and I have only seen it done in that one particular case. 1776. You said as to the cattle that they had a long spear that they stabbed them behind the head with ; do they have to hit them in the forehead as well ?—No. 1777. Then they do not pith them ?—No. We went to two slaughter-houses in Texas; in one the animal was unsensed with a pea rifle, and in the other case they were killed with a bar of iron at the hack of the head. 1778. That sufficiently destroys his power to allow them to cut his throat ?—He tumbles down; he is on a sort of movable platform, and he is pulled into the slaughter- house through a trap door, and the next bullock comes in. Captain E. F. Ineurrrenp, 1788. (Chairman.) I understand you have seen the methods of killing cattle prevalent on the River Plate in South America ?—Yes, at one of the places where they kill the cattle and make the “jerked beef” as it is called, which is very largely consumed by the black population in the West Indies and on the African Coast. 1789. What type of cattle are they; are they very wild or tame ?—They go in largely for Herefords there, especially at Liebig’s place, and I think that, considering the wild life they lead, they are wonderfully tractable and tame. They wander in large herds and they have mounted natives to look after them. | 1790. Like in Western America ’—Very much the same, they go and round them up when necessary ; for instance, if they want any of them for branding, ete. 1791. How do they kill them ?—The animals are driven in from up-country to the slaughter-houses, which are all on the banks of the River Plate for convenience of transport, as there are few lines of railway in the country. The “ saladeros ” (salting placss), as they are called, are generally on a big scale, and during the season sometimes 7779. (Mr. Cope.) ago ?—Yes. This is something like twenty years 1786. I expect they have altered their system now vely materially ?—They were unsensed either in the one way or the other, but the general practice was to use a poll-axe,_- and I do not think they have altered that. ' 1781. (Mr. Gume.) In many of the public slaughter- houses here they hit the bullock at the back of the head, and directly he drops they hit him in the forehead again and then put the cane down to pith them ; they aid not do that where you saw them killed in America ?—No; I have seen lots of bullocks killed and they tumble down as dead as possible from the moment the poll-axe entered, 1782. (Sir Henry Yorke.) Have you formed any opinion on the subject of licensing slaughtermen, whether it would be an advantage that before a man was allowed to slaughter an animal he should be in possession of a licence ?—I have never thought of it; I do not think I have ever heard it suggested. 1783. The licence that I had in my mind would be a licence for which the man would not pay and he would not require any special efficiency, but it would be a weapon by which you could get rid of the man if he misconducted himself in any way ?—The licence would be as to his capabilities of slaughtering ? 1784. No, there are two kinds ; the first would be the ordinary licence such as these motor-car men require to have, which does not involve any knowledge of motors or of driving, and the second one of course would be one of proficiency, and I wanted to know whether you could give me an opinion as to whether either of these would be a good thing ?—The second one would be, as to the efficiency of the man as a slaughterer ? 1785. Yes, but you might have only the first one or you might have the second one if you like. I wanted to know whether you could give an opinion on that point ?—I have not considered it; I should think that in towns it would be very well, but there are men who go about and slaughter pigs and sheep in a farmhouse and that sort of thing, and I do not know whether they would be any the better for being licensed. 1786. (Chairmen.) It would be only this, that sup- posing a journeyman butcher was going to a farmhouse to slaughter and was drunk, he could be had up and cau- tioned probably the first time, and if it was repeated or if he was wantonly cruel his licence could be withdrawn, that is the only object ?—That might apply to a good many other things besides killing cattle. 1787. (Sir Henry Yorke.) You have not any very strong opinion upon that point ?—No, I have no strong opinion upon it at all, simply because I have not thought. of it ; it might be a very good thing, in fact the whole of my endeavour is to insist upon every animal being un- sensed before he is killed, and that I am sure ought to be the law, and I should like to have an Act of Parliament passed very swiftly to make it compulsory. 1,000 or 2,000 head a day are killed in a single saladero, but as they are mostly in the hands of natives, who neglect all sanitary measures, the stench from them is often quite sickening, even at a distance of three or four miles. On the other hand, at Liebig’s place at Fray Bentos, some way up the River Uruguay, things are done on a much larger scale, but very scientifically, and the utmost regard is paid to cleanliness. The accompanying sketch shows the usual method of slaughtering. The animals come from the stock yards through the passage A, which is formed by palisades about 6 feet high, and they are admitted into the slaughtering yard through the gate B.. The slaughtering yard is large enough to hold about ten head of cattle at a time, and its sides C C are formed of palisades about six feet high with a. plank walk on top just wide enough for a man to walk on. The shaded part D shows the top of an iron trolly which runs on the two tram lines E E. The trolly is large enough for the carcase of a bullock, and when in the position shown in the sketch it forms part of the floor of the slaughtering yard, and is level with the rest of it, which is paved with flat stones. F is a heavy wooden gate which, when