lamb to the slaughter

[Tadpole]

This is why kids think meat comes from the supermarket,

Marcus the lamb

"Parents at a Kent primary school are angry that a sheep hand-reared by pupils is to be slaughtered for meat"

[calibanzwei]

A minority of small minded idiotic parents - good work to both the school and kids (no pun intended ).

[SimonM]

Well done to the head teacher, pupils and school council for seeing this through.

Most folk are far to removed from the food chain and this will e a valuable life lesson for all concerned.

Simon

[phill_ue]

The kids voted for it to be slaughtered, the evil bar stewards! Not newsworthy, and indication of our times and quite how detached from reality a lot of people are. Ho hum, never mind, there'll be a story about Katie Price next! Who, you ask? Exactly!

[Mesquite]

A minority of small minded idiotic parents - good work to both the school and kids (no pun intended ).

Sadly that group of small minded idiotic parents and other people succeded in hounding out the headteacher with threats of violence against her and the school..... Can't say what I think of them on a family forum

Story here

[Bushwhacker]

I think that's a bit strong myself.
If you know you're keeping an animal for slaughter, especially when there's kids involved, for Christ's sake don't give it a name and treat it like a pet from the onset. I can see why some parents were upset.
Maybe the kiddies did vote on slaughtering Marcus, but how many of them knew what was involved physically and emotionally?

[SimonM]

Sadly that group of small minded idiotic parents and other people succeded in hounding out the headteacher with threats of violence against her and the school..... Can't say what I think of them on a family forum

Story here

Damn shame, a blow to the school and community IMHO

[calibanzwei]

Have I gone mad, or is the original news story from September last year?

[Mesquite]

Have I gone mad, or is the original news story from September last year?

Yup..........

[Tadpole]

Have I gone mad, or is the original news story from September last year?

It's news today(yesterday) because there has been a protracted internet/facebook campaign to get rid of the head teacher, and after threats to herself and threats towards the school, she [the head teacher] resigned.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/8508975.stm

It seems only three parents (and two kids) objected from the school, from a school with 250 students. The majority of the support against the Teacher is from outsiders, and from overseas, protests groups, and anti meat eaters.

[Tengu]

Inevitably.

its some outsiders.

(says she who would not have given them a lamb in the first place. Sheep are not pets and food and pets should be kept in separate mental compartments. Zoos these days try to distance pets from wild animals, dont they?)

[lannyman8]

what rubbish eat meat eat sheep and cows oh no not in this day and age they grow in plastic trays dont you know.......

i have dispatched meany animals in as far as possible a humain way and as long as thats the case and it has had a good life not in disstres.......

whats the problem?????????

[Tengu]

Um, it could be the Fall of Communism. (Says she who certainly does not believe that communism failed...just modified.)

A person who had done a lot of work for the RSPCA told me that back in the early 90s.

She said that the political extreemists were looking for new places to play.

[Toddy]

We used to holiday every summer on a farm up by Inveraray. There were always orphaned lambs, and yes, me and the owners grandchildren did feed them and play with them, but we were taught to call them the Pest lambs since they were kind of a nuisance and had to be tended to. Definitely not pets.
I grew up thinking wild rabbits were pest rabbits, unlike my pet ones.

This sounds like a terribly engineered fracas I can't see why to be honest, surely animal activists would be happy for children to see the reality of what they were eating


cheers,
Toddy

[Tengu]

Um, these people arent interested in mundane things such as reality.

Nor, in many cases, real animal welfare.

[g4ghb]

What a fuss! - love the fact that the Mum completely disregarded the fact that it was the KIDS that voted and decided on the outcome!

You can't keep them in cotton wool - Children have to learn its a big bad world out there sometime!

[Tadpole]

You can't keep them in cotton wool - Children have to learn its a big bad world out there sometime!

A very tasty big bad world

[Adze]

Um, these people arent interested in mundane things such as reality.

Nor, in many cases, real animal welfare.

Can't argue with that - the vast majority definitely seem to be more anti-human than pro-animal.

[g4ghb]

A very tasty big bad world

Yup! - I hope they have been growing mint in their veg patch too

[Melonfish]

See a little while ago i was watching kill it cook it eat it.
they slaughtered a cow, now my 3 year old was all full of questions like "what are they doing to that cow"
SWMBO was telling me to turn it off but i thought it better to let him see and tell him how we get those hamburgers and stewing steak that he likes.
i want them to grow up with an understanding of where food comes from and how to tell if its any good or just processed rubbish!

oh and i'd like to add i'm a member of Peta - People for the eating of tasty animals.

[Tengu]

Why arent her superiors doing anything?

Head teachers do not grow on trees.

(As Vegtable lambs may well do)

[CaptainBeaky]

My kids have grown up knowing where their food comes from - lamb chops/pretty lamb gambolling in the field = same thing.
They eat "pig and pomme" sausages
No such thing as fluffy bunnies chez Beaky - both the kids refer to "long-eared varmints"

oh and i'd like to add i'm a member of Peta - People for the eating of tasty animals.

Badge design competition?

[TallMikeM]

It's news today(yesterday) because there has been a protracted internet/facebook campaign to get rid of the head teacher, and after threats to herself and threats towards the school, she [the head teacher] resigned.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/8508975.stm

It seems only three parents (and two kids) objected from the school, from a school with 250 students. The majority of the support against the Teacher is from outsiders, and from overseas, protests groups, and anti meat eaters.

yup, there's no justice like mob justice.

[shaneh]

I personally can’t see the problem.

Marcus had a good life, better than most, he was bought to be slaughtered in the end.

The kids named him, fed him and looked after him, now its time for slaughter!
This is a valuable lesson to the children, as stated before meat isn’t grown on plastic trays bought in Tesco’s, Emotional Yes, But a Valuable One, I think….

If the experience was a bad one, maybe the children will think before eating meat, where it came from, and how it lived

This lesson wont be learnt by my kids, unfortunately.

[locum76]

When I was three we had a pet (pest) lamb called flossy. It disappeared one week and two weeks later we were eating lamb for our Sunday tea. Growing up on farms tends to give you a sound knowledge of where your dinner comes from!

I think what the school did was a good way of educating the kids on the food chain, I hope they included information and teaching on the huge amount of effort it takes to produce meat. I think that is very important for our generation, their generation and any to follow.

It will also allow the kids a very good opportunity to make an informed decision on their own diet.

I haven't read the whole bit about the protestors, they seem very narrow minded to me.

[tjwuk]

And the real 'legal point with this is always forgotten and overlooked.

All these so called animal rights people, always use threatening baviour towards others. Something somewhere just does not add up.

[jonajuna]

Why do people object to me being born an omnivore?

I don't object to them making a concious choice to become herbivorous in their eating habits whilst remaining biologically omnivorous and missing out on proteins, oils and minerals that are extremely difficult to gain from vegetable matter and creating the potential negative global impact of the intense and often chemically aided farming required to produce enough vegetable matter to offset the equivalent nutrition gained from meat.

then again, maybe i should

[Stingray]

This goes way back.
I was working in a nursery in Lydd when this story broke in the papers.
Most of the people I spoke to backed the headmistress.
A couple of other people and a social network thought otherwise.
I'd rather my children know where the meat comes from.My opinion.

[fred gordon]

Well done to the head teacher, pupils and school council for seeing this through.

Most folk are far to removed from the food chain and this will e a valuable life lesson for all concerned.

Simon

What he said...!

[Toddy]

Why do people object to me being born an omnivore?

I don't object to them making a concious choice to become herbivorous in their eating habits whilst remaining biologically omnivorous and missing out on proteins, oils and minerals that are extremely difficult to gain from vegetable matter and creating the potential negative global impact of the intense and often chemically aided farming required to produce enough vegetable matter to offset the equivalent nutrition gained from meat.

then again, maybe i should

While your sentiments might be admirable, feeding livestock for meat production has a greater impact on our environment that crop production for human consumption.
Read "Diet for a small planet", it's quite an eye opener.

As a loooooong time vegetarian, I can assure you that the diet is easy, healthy and nutritious.

Back to Marcus.........

cheers,
Toddy