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Kids send Marcus the lamb to slaughter
Reuters ^ | 14 September 2009 | Luke Baker

Posted on 09/14/2009 12:14:20 PM PDT by ShadowAce

LONDON (Reuters) - A group of schoolchildren who reared a lamb from birth and named it Marcus has overridden objections by parents and rights activists and voted to send the animal to slaughter.

Marcus the six-month-old lamb has now been culled, the head teacher of the primary school in Kent confirmed on Monday, after the school's council -- a 14-member group of children aged 6 to 11 -- voted 13-1 to have him killed.

The decision has provoked fury among animal-loving celebrities, animal and human rights campaigners and the parents of some of the children, and led to threats against Lydd primary school and its teachers, according to a member of staff.

Around 250 children at the school take part in a program designed to teach them about rearing and breeding animals.

The educational farm was started this year, with Marcus being hand-fed by the children. The children also look after ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

The intention had been to buy pigs with the money raised from slaughtering Marcus, but those plans have been put on hold following the furor created by the lamb's culling. The school said the program may now have to be stopped.

"It's all up in the air," said a member of staff. "There's been so much pressure on us as a result of all this."

Despite that, the school said there had been overwhelming support among the children, the staff and most of the parents to have Marcus -- a castrated male who could not have been used for breeding -- sent to the slaughterhouse.

But opponents branded it heartless and cruel, with animal rights campaigners asking why Marcus could not have been used to teach the children about wool, and human rights campaigners worried about the emotional impact of Marcus's death on...

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: food; lamb; napl; slaughter
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To: null and void

Awww, that’s nasty LOL.

A friend of mine is currently raising three beef cattle - their name are “Big Mac”, “Quarter Pounder”, and “Double Cheese”.

LQ


41 posted on 09/14/2009 12:38:44 PM PDT by LizardQueen (The world is not out to get you, except in the sense that the world is out to get everyone.)
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To: ShadowAce
... and human rights campaigners worried about the emotional impact of Marcus's death on the children.

13 out of 14 voted to have him killed. What emotional impact is there for the children? The one child, perhaps.

42 posted on 09/14/2009 12:39:05 PM PDT by Ingtar (Asses far Left of me; Rinos to the Left; FReepin' on the Right with you.)
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To: MAexile; KarlInOhio

Mary had a little lamb
It’s fleece was white as snow
But when she slit his little throat
My, how the blood did flow.


43 posted on 09/14/2009 12:39:12 PM PDT by Graybeard58 ( Selah.)
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To: LizardQueen

*shrug* yeah, well, we shoulda named the dog...


44 posted on 09/14/2009 12:40:54 PM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 236 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: null and void

well, what was the dog’s name?


45 posted on 09/14/2009 12:41:10 PM PDT by T Minus Four (I'm all wee-weed up!)
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To: randog; ShadowAce
Years ago, a childhood friend of mine had a goat which he raised from babyhood to its natural culmination at the far end of the Food Chain.

No problem! --- He'd named it Barbecue ---

46 posted on 09/14/2009 12:42:12 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets." - Isaac Asimov)
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To: Ingtar
The one child, perhaps

Hey, it is England. Maybe that kid wanted to wait until the lamb became mutton.

47 posted on 09/14/2009 12:43:14 PM PDT by T Minus Four (I'm all wee-weed up!)
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To: T Minus Four

one post too late LOL!


48 posted on 09/14/2009 12:43:35 PM PDT by T Minus Four (I'm all wee-weed up!)
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To: a fool in paradise
"Vegans...would move the football downfield..."

Don't you mean, "the pigskin"?

49 posted on 09/14/2009 12:43:59 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: null and void
When I was growing up on a farm in Iowa, the standard rule concerning edible livestock was that any critter that has a name is safe from becoming Sunday dinner.

Fair enough. As for Marcus- I appreciate the lesson that the kids learned, and I don't disagree with doing it, but I couldn't do it, for just that reason. If it has a name- it's getting perilously close to 'pet' status.

I'm not a vegetarian or an Animal Rights loon by any means. But I avoid lamb and I avoid duck, just because I like them too much.

We couldn’t bear to kill Tom for dinner, so we ate the dog.

How was it?

50 posted on 09/14/2009 12:44:07 PM PDT by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Growing up, we had several animals--The chickens we'd keep around a few years for the eggs, then they became dinner>

The milk cow was named Rosey, and the Angus were named Hamburger, T-bone, etc. The pigs were named Pork Chop, Bacon, etc.

Us kids knew exactly what they were for and what we were eating.

51 posted on 09/14/2009 12:44:19 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: T Minus Four

};^P>


52 posted on 09/14/2009 12:44:36 PM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 236 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: null and void
*shrug* yeah, well, we shoulda named the dog...

Ba-dum, tish

53 posted on 09/14/2009 12:45:21 PM PDT by T Minus Four (I'm all wee-weed up!)
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To: Riley

Fragrant.


54 posted on 09/14/2009 12:45:38 PM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 236 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: ShadowAce
How's that Socialism thing working for ya? Wait until these kids become the adults, and their parents are old. They will have taught them to evaluate their "usefullness to the Great Society", and the parents will be found to be "below acceptable efficiency level". They'll end up like the little lamb.

I wonder if Liberals ever give a single second of thought time to what sort of future they are creating, when they teach their kids these "free love" values.

55 posted on 09/14/2009 12:46:09 PM PDT by Clock King (There's no way to fix D.C.)
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To: ShadowAce

Wow. Will they kids benefit from this, you know lamb stew or something. Seems only fair.


56 posted on 09/14/2009 12:48:44 PM PDT by This I Wonder32460
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To: ShadowAce

Wow. Will they kids benefit from this, you know lamb stew or something. Seems only fair.


57 posted on 09/14/2009 12:48:55 PM PDT by This I Wonder32460
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To: This I Wonder32460

The article indicated they were going to sell the meat and buy pigs. Sounds like a captal idea to me, it being Britian-stan and all.


58 posted on 09/14/2009 12:51:44 PM PDT by T Minus Four (I'm all wee-weed up!)
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To: MHGinTN; Slings and Arrows; Daffynition
Marcus has an autobiography ready to be published posthumously entitled I, Kid.
59 posted on 09/14/2009 12:55:03 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (I'm no racist, I oppose the political agenda of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Bill Ayers as well.)
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To: a fool in paradise
Marcus has an autobiography ready to be published posthumously entitled I, Kid.

I thought it was I kid. Ewe not.

60 posted on 09/14/2009 12:56:39 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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