Kids send Marcus the lamb to slaughter

hansvonaxion

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Don't normally start threads, nor post in OT, but I thought this was too funny to pass up...

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 the children.

A popular talkshow host offered to buy the lamb and give it sanctuary and Facebook groups sprung up to rally support to keep Marcus alive. But the children had the final say. The school defended the children's decision, calling it educational.

"When we started the farm in spring 2009, the aim was to educate the children in all aspects of farming life and everything that implies," the school said in a statement.

"The children have had a range of opportunities to discuss this issue, both in terms of the food cycle and the ethical aspect... It is important for everyone to move on from this issue, so the children can focus on their education."

Seemed like a good program, shame the adults seem to be less mature than the kids. :lol:
 
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Mary apparently opposed

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So this was like a pet to all 14 children, right? And they decided to kill it, although it didn't do anything wrong? This is why the world is what it is right now
 
Did they cook some lamb chops afterwards?
 
Mmmm...delicious lamb.

Why is it bad to teach kids about life. I think it's great they know that meat doesn't come from the shop. I think it teaches more respect to animals than adults pretending that world is a cute and happy place. Maybe they can appreciate their food more too.

If the kids had to witness the killing or butcher the animal themselves, I'd be worried. But how is this harmful? Adults can be so irrational sometimes.

So this was like a pet to all 14 children, right? And they decided to kill it, although it didn't do anything wrong? This is why the world is what it is right now
Yeah, the lamb bit three children giving them rabies and also attacked the teacher, so it must be put down. Did you actually read the news bit?
 
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Why is everyone so up in arms? I think it's good to teach the kids that meat doesn't just come from plastic wrapped trays in the supermarket. To make them more aware of where their food comes from is a good thing, and by using the money to buy pigs they're really learning about the economy of farming. Far more educational than some cuddly bullshit.
 
Mmmm...delicious lamb.

Why is it bad to teach kids about life. I think it's great they know that meat doesn't come from the shop. I think it teaches more respect to animals than adults pretending that world is a cute and happy place. Maybe they can appreciate their food more too.

true

but take a little girls doll away, the it's the end of the world in their eyes
yet they have no problem with killing a little animal they raised themselves...

i think that says sth about the values they've gotten along from home...
materialism...
 
So this was like a pet to all 14 children, right? And they decided to kill it, although it didn't do anything wrong? This is why the world is what it is right now

They had the choice to either to keep it as pets, or, have it slaughtered and turned in to meat and be sold off. And the funds from being sold off were to be used to buy more animals, in this case pigs. Pretty much the school is trying to teach the kids how the meat on your table ends up, which is a right thing. And these kids are a lot smarter then I thought because I would have guessed most would have voted to keep the lamb as a pet.

I bet peta and them are all upset because they always assumed if you showed kids cute little animals and then tell them it was killed for you to eat them they would turn in to Vegan loving nuts, but the truth is kids are a lot smarter and understand how the world works. This type of thing was normal for humans for thousands of year when your local grocery supply was your backyard.

When I was about 12 years old I saw and partaken in the slaughtering of a few goats and cows for the first time on Eid (Muslim Holiday). While we took care of it, feed and treated it like pets at the end of the day I understood it was food and the only way your going to eat it is if its dead. So nothing wrong with these kids picking the logical choice, its just stupid adults these days that want everything packed for them and removed the realities of life.

Yeah, the lamb bit three children giving them rabies and also attacked the teacher, so it must be put down. Did you actually read the news bit?

Ummmm, WTF? that is not in the news bit...
 
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So this was like a pet to all 14 children, right? And they decided to kill it, although it didn't do anything wrong? This is why the world is what it is right now

I was thinking the same...

I would be interested in knowing exactly what they talked about before voting and what motivated their choice, because I don't see normal that a group of 14 children send to slaughter a lamb they have cherished and fed and maybe played with.

In my opinion, either they have seen him only once in their lives or nobody has explained them what "slaughter" really mean. Or both.
 
Sorry, I'm terrible with sarcasm.

But I do agree with everything you wrote.
Ah, after i wrote what i said i thought it was a joke.. But since i spent time having the find the actual article to see if what you said was true made me go WTF.
true

but take a little girls doll away, the it's the end of the world in their eyes
yet they have no problem with killing a little animal they raised themselves...

i think that says sth about the values they've gotten along from home...
materialism...

What does that have to do with materialism. These kids are running a farm, not some petting zoo. The schools project was to teak kids how to successfully run a farm, which at the end of the day is a business. Just because its all nice and cuddly does not mean you cant kill it and eat it if that is what you society accepts that as food.

I dont know why people have a hard time understand that maybe these kids understand that food is food, and as such should be treated like that.
 
So this was like a pet to all 14 children, right? And they decided to kill it, although it didn't do anything wrong? This is why the world is what it is right now

You've never eaten lamb at Easter or something? Seriously, do you know how tasty it is?

true

but take a little girls doll away, the it's the end of the world in their eyes
yet they have no problem with killing a little animal they raised themselves...

i think that says sth about the values they've gotten along from home...
materialism...
Dude, one word: lamb chops. Now do you understand why?
 
Those silly people have obviously never seen what happens in thousands upon thousands of county fairs all over this country every year.
 
Actually, what hit me is not that the lamb has become lamb chops, but the fact that 13 out of 14 children from some primary school have chosen not to save it.

I mean... Children normally refuse the idea of killing an animal they have cherished, let aside a cute and wooly lamb. ok, some children con't care, but... 13 out of 14? This is not standard children behaviour, and this is why there is an article on that.

So, I know I repeat myself, but either they weren't aware of what the fate of the lamb would have been, or they actually didn't see the lamb more than once or twice in their life, for maybe a couple of minutes.

Or there are serious problems with the moral and emotional education of those children. But again... 13 out of 14 children with some emotional problem is not credible, so I don't think this is the case. I think what's happened is that the article forgets to mention something about this story.
 
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Actually, what hit me is not that the lamb has become lamb chops, but the fact that 13 out of 14 children from some primary school have chosen not to save it.

I mean... Children normally refuse the idea of killing an animal they have cherished, let aside a cute and wooly lamb. ok, some children con't care, but... 13 out of 14? This is not standard children behaviour, and this is why there is an article on that.

So, I know I repeat myself, but either they weren't aware of what the fate of the lamb would have been, or they actually didn't see the lamb more than once or twice in their life, for maybe a couple of minutes.

Or there are serious problems with the moral and emotional education of those children. But again... 13 out of 14 children with some emotional problem is not credible, so I don't think this is the case. I think what's happened is that the article forgets to mention something about this story.

Dude, where are you getting your ideas? I went to school in a rural area where most kids lived on some sort of farm or another. We all raised animals in FFA that were sent to slaughter, and in high school we were responsible for keeping financial logs so we could see if we made a profit and how much we made if we did profit. This is exactly the same, only instead of each kid raising an animal, all kids pitched in for a single animal.

Why do you think kids aren't generally willing to see animals slaughtered? Have you never been to a farm?

And by the way, farm animals? NOT CUTE. If these kids have been exercising the lamb at 5 AM and cleaning up its poo for a few months, no wonder they're ready to be rid of it.

Also, as for the idiots saying they should use the lamb to teach kids about wool: meat animals aren't the same as textile animals. Different breeds have different qualities, and I'd doubt a lamb bred for meat gives very good wool. So what the kids would really learn is that PETA is stupid. Which, come to think of it, I'm all for.
 
i find this totally relevant to the topic at hand:
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Why is everyone so up in arms? I think it's good to teach the kids that meat doesn't just come from plastic wrapped trays in the supermarket. To make them more aware of where their food comes from is a good thing, and by using the money to buy pigs they're really learning about the economy of farming. Far more educational than some cuddly bullshit.

Here here. :cheers:

Actually, what hit me is not that the lamb has become lamb chops, but the fact that 13 out of 14 children from some primary school have chosen not to save it.

*snip*

This isn't just directed to you but the other people dissagreeing with what the kids did.

The purpose of the class is to teach the kids about farming. They're raising animals and learning about all the aspects of farming. Lambs get turned into tasty meat every day in huge numbers. Do you want money to buy more animals for your farm, or do you want your farm to keep a lamb for no reason? The answer's obvious, turn the lamb into chops and then spend the money on more poop machines. The kids know this, they had the castrated lamb slaughtered so they could buy pigs, possibly to breed. The program is about farming and breeding, a castrated sheep can't be used to teach the kids about the breeding part, and if they had kept it so they could sheer it for wool, well that wouldn't have been too good because then they'd have had a sheep that they sheer once in a while and is of no use the rest of the time. These kids aren't as stupid as some of you are making them out to be. The biggest part of farming is food, meat requires animals to be slaughtered, lambs get slaughtered all the time, the kids send a lamb to slaughter and learn a bit more about the economy of farming and get new different animals as a result.

You people have probably never been on a farm. My grandparents had always had at least cattle until their last few years, as well as chickens and pigs from time to time. In the end their animals were always sent to the slaughterhouse, little boy me knew this and understood it and had no problem with it because it's just a part of farm life. Even the chickens that I went along to pick up shortly after they hatched, those cute little yelllow chicks that turned into big feathery chickens, they got slaughtered and that's fine. But it sucked when their german shepards (who were both outside dogs) got put down, I liked those big old doggies - one kept killing neighbours' chickens, the other just got too old.

Farm life, man. If the parents that objected had taken the course, they would've voted to slaughter the lamb too.
 
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What does that have to do with materialism. These kids are running a farm, not some petting zoo. The schools project was to teak kids how to successfully run a farm, which at the end of the day is a business. Just because its all nice and cuddly does not mean you cant kill it and eat it if that is what you society accepts that as food.

I dont know why people have a hard time understand that maybe these kids understand that food is food, and as such should be treated like that.

the materialism comment didn't make much sense reading it now, but when you kill an animal, kids aged 6 to 11 are supposed to cry...looking at a lamb as food is what adults do, and i still think it's weird that such young children make such rational decisions, they're supposed to live in their own fantasy world and not having to deal with sending animals to the slaughterhouse
 
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