§ Mr. DowdTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what rules or guidance her Department provides on the transportation for slaughter of spent hens; and if it is permissible for injured hens with broken limbs to be transported before slaughter;
(2) whether consignments of hens transported from the United Kingdom to other member states within the European Community require a veterinary check before transit; and whether they must be free from serious injury for such a journey to be permissible;
(3) what is her Department's policy on the transportation of spent hens via ferry to Holland for slaughter; and if she will make a statement;
(4) what guidelines are given by her Department to battery egg producers on how to dispose of spent hens which have sustained serious injury during their productive life.
§ Mr. SoamesHarmonised EC animal health rules governing the intra-Community trade in poultry require,734W inter alia, that consignments be examined for clinical signs or suspicions of disease shortly before export by an official veterinarian. In addition, the Welfare of Animals during Transport Order 1992 makes it an offence to cause or permit animals—including poultry—to be transported in a way which causes or is likely to cause injury or unnecessary suffering. The order, which implements European Community directive requirements, also makes it unlawful to transport diseased, ill or injured poultry and imposes a limit of 12 hours on the period which poultry may be transported without being fed and watered. Further provisions set standards for the carriage of poultry, including transport in road vehicles on board ship.
The joint industry welfare guide to the handling of spent hens—published by the National Farmers Union and the British Poultry Meat Federation—recommends that visibly unfit or injured birds must not be loaded but should be slaughtered on the farm as quickly and humanely as possible. The Ministry's code of recommendations for the welfare of domestic fowls—applicable to all on-farm, egg-laying hens—states that ailing birds and birds suffering from injury such as open wounds or fractures, or from prolapse of the vent should be segregated and treated or, if necessary, be humanely killed without delay. The law requires that any bird arriving at the slaughterhouse which is found to be suffering must be slaughtered immediately.