Posted on 05/25/2008 3:48:35 AM PDT by markomalley
Canandaigua, N.Y. -
After heavy lobbying from animals-rights groups including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Canandaigua Academy Principal Lynne Erdle has terminated the so-called chicken project which has a class of students each year raising chickens and killing them.
Lindsay Rajt, manager of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said Friday that Erdle sent an e-mail to the organization saying that school officials recognize the concern and had discontinued the project, which had been part of a high school ecology class for the past three years.
In no way were we trying to create a controversy, wrote Erdle in the e-mail provided by PETA. This is a project adopted from a 4-H project that we have done for years.
Animal-rights activists from across the country, including PETA members, lobbied school leaders to end the project. School district spokesman Andy Thomas said the district has received as many as 50 letters from activists. I think Lynnes feeling is, Enough is enough, Thomas said. We think its a great class, but sometimes a controversy makes it not worth it to pound on through.
Thomas added, Their opposition to the program, to me, is somewhat shortsighted theres a chance that some of the kids that go through this program will consider vegetarianism much more seriously.
Thomas expressed frustrations with how the program aimed at giving students a close-look at the true cost of todays diet has been portrayed by PETA and another group, United Poultry Concerns. In announcing the schools decision, PETA issued a press release Friday that said, School Had Been Holding Mass Decapitations of Birds in Classroom.
PETA also said slaughtering animals fosters a dangerous mindset that glorifies and even rewards violence.
Rajt commended Erdle for ending the program.
Now, students and faculty have a golden opportunity to learn one of lifes most valuable and enduring lessons: compassion for others, she said in a prepared statement.
Last fall, students raised 22 hens in pens outside Eric Cosmans ecology classroom. Starting from when they were chicks, they fed them, gave them water and cleaned their pens. Then, in groups of three or four, the hens were killed, plucked and gutted for a December barbecue day.
Reached by phone Saturday, Cosman said he had not been told that the program had been ended. It wasnt anything that was discussed at school with me, he said, noting that the project is much more than a project that kills things.
Thats the end result, he said, but my goal is to educate people to the true cost of todays diet.
Cosman said that, as part of the elective course, he has always shown a PETA film called Meet your Meat, and he invites the schools vegetarian students to offer their insights to fellow students. I approach it from an environmental point of view, not a slaughter point of view, he said. If we would all eat a little less meat, it could change a lot of things.
The program drew ire from Canandaigua activist Joel Freedman, who said the program could bring out the callous side of students. He met with school officials before Christmas to plead on the birds behalf and ask that they be sent to a farm sanctuary.
Freedman said he was pleased with Erdles decision. The school should be teaching kindness to animals, not cruelty to animals, he said. What was going on with the chicken project was a very cruel endeavor that never should have gone on in the first place.
As for the district, Thomas said, its never a happy feeling saying youre bowing to a public pressure you dont agree with, and yet we all make those decisions from time to time.
I despise PETA! I despise the weenies who give in to them, even more!
Looks like PETA ate it’s own. LOL!
We raise chickens for our own meat and eggs. My 6yr old can process a roaster in about 10 minutes, but he’ll get better with practice. He’s even quicker with a rabbit.
Just goes to show that PETA vegetarians lack common sense, perhaps due to a lack of healthy protein in their diet.
” Hes even quicker with a rabbit. “
You hunt and kill rabbits in this day and age ? You should be ashamed !
“Process” those chickens the hunter’s way. Just step on their wings, grabs their legs and pull. Result is two perfect skinless chicken breasts and legs. After that it’s just a couple quick cuts to detach the breasts and legs and your done. Takes under a minute.
Not only that we raise them as well. As soon as they're weaned, they're meat. Quite economical, you only have to feed the parents. A 10 pound doe will give you around 120lbs of meat a year. It's better for you than chicken too. We had some squirrel stew a couple weeks ago too (yum!). Funny thing, the squirrels have been keeping themselves scarce since then, but they'll get over it.
What else are they good for? There's a reason rabbits breed like- rabbits. They are at the bottom of the food chain. Most rabbit breeders I know breed them for meat, either for human consumption or for people with exotic pets such as lions. Rabbits are a lousy pet, all they do is eat and crap in a corner.
Yeah, and my Dad always told me that the way to skin a snowshoe hare was to make a cut at the bottom, grab it by the ears and give it a really firm jerk and it’ll fall right out. I’d like to see some documentation on your method, if you don’t mind.
Eating
Tasty
Animals
Yeah thats the PETA I know and love
This is a project adopted from a 4-H project that we have done for years.
4-H? Them evil bastards! Hopefully we will get to the point where people can’t do anything for themselves. Prohibit doing or learning anything that would lead to independence and self sufficiency. We want everyone to be totally dependent on government and big business...Oh yeah and only eating tree bark and roots. That is until the plants rights people get involved.
We live in a very rural area and my daughter learned to butcher hogs in high school! LOL Not my thing but she didn’t mind it at all.
I had to help my grandfather kill chickens when I was a kid. He was from up North and didn’t do it right though. He went to all the trouble to tie a string around their neck. I pulled the string and he chopped. Around here you just grab them by the head and whirl them around over your head like twirling a lasso and POP! I always hated killing chickens because I’m an animal lover but I’m also a farm girl so I understand that it has to be done.
Doccumentaion? Hmmm. It’s just a field dressing method passed down from generation to generation.
However I did see it shown on a hunting show the other day, Canada outdoors, Hunting Canada or something like that it was called. Maybe you can find a video file on their website. I was kind of suprised that they showed it on TV actually, but it is a common method hunters use to field dress grouse.
Eating
Tasty
Animals
Yeah thats the PETA I know and love
Assuming PETA is a group of animal lovers, my translation of PETA is another way to spell Bull $hit.
PETA members, go eat your geggies, take your Beano and STFU!
For next year, the kids are going to watch a video of a chicken farm and then go out for a chicken sandwich lunch.
The cruelty that people revel in , it’s just mind boggling.
“Taste’s just like chicken...only better”
Feeding your family is not cruelty, your attitude is, however, going to starve you and yours someday.
Yeah, but who’s gonna teach the animals to be kind to each
other? Birds kill worms, cats kill birds, dogs kill cats,
big cats,bears kill dogs, deer, humans....
The one thing I’d like to see is a PETA person lost in the
forest, foraging for berries, wheat, corn, potatoes,and perhaps
other poisonous plants,berries,mushrooms...maybe they would
understand the value of animal meat...
They only have 2 values I agree with, 1) more vegetables
in the diet, and 2) don’t be cruel with your food
You should eat to survive another day.
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