parents outraged that school pet lamb is to be slaughtered

[wannaBe]

here

Think the head has the right idea tbh, although not quite sure how my ds would react...

[SoupDragon]

Blimey! Not sure I'd have the guts to do it

"the school council, made up of 14 seven to 11-year-olds, voted 13 to one in favour of sending Marcus to slaughter rather than keeping him"

I actually find this a little worrying.

[GrinnyPig]

I think the head does have the right idea too and I know exactly how my vegetarian DDs would react. I wonder if the number of vegetarians at the school will increase.

[EldonAve]

I know nothing about sheep but what was the point in neutering him if they were going to slaughter him

[wasabipeanut]

I think this sounds like a sensible project - what is wrong with children learning about where their food comes from?

I must admit I laughed when I heard this on the radio.

[southeastastra]

poor thing, mary had a little lamb...

[littleducks]

I think it is excellent, if handled correctly

My 3 yr old know about meat being from animals, i take her to the butchers we talk about it, i show her fresh fish in full form not just fish fingers

It is vital kids know and appreciate the value of meat, the animals have been well cared

[LadyStealthPolarBear]

How odd - I can't believe 7-11 year olds voted to kill a sheep

[wannaBe]

maybe soupy but if it's a local farming community then it's likely a lot of the children have a greater idea of where their meat actually comes from, as opposed to children in the city who only think of meat as something in a packet on a supermarket shelf.

[CMOTdibbler]

Head is quite right, but only as long as it was clear to the children from the start that this lamb was for meat.

I raised lambs/kids/calves/piglets/geese for meat from when I was 6 - it was my pocket money, and to get the money I had to be involved in the whole thing from start to end. Ie from getting them from the farm or market to taking them to the abattoir and putting the meat into bags.

It was always clear that this was the process, and very different to raising pet animals. When one of the pet goats got arthritis, dad thought we'd eat it rather than just shoot and bury (she couldn't walk at all). Even he, hard country man couldn't, and he eventually had to swap the meat with another goat keeper

[Spidermama]

I think it's a good, honest thing to do and exposes the hypocrisy of many meat eaters who are in a tiz.

Just because this one lamb has a connection with their children, doesn't make its right to life any stronger than any other lamb out in the field.

If people want to eat meat - fine, but I think they need to really understand what meat is and this will give children a chance to make their decision responsibly and conciously.

For the record, I'm a vegetarian as is my dd. My DH and three DSs all eat meat.

[OrangeFish]

To be honest, unless this is a school of farming, I can't see why children that young have to take such decisions. And wonder if school can take or justify proper farm activities without detriment to the curriculum, budget, etc.

[LadyStealthPolarBear]

I agree that children should know where meat comes from (I'm a vegi by the way) but was under the impression this was a school pet lamb?!

[PortAndLemon]

"When they are 15, when they are 20 they are not going to remember what they got in their Sats when they were 11 years old. But they will remember that I killed and ate their pet lamb. Bwahahahahaha!" said Ms Charman.

If the idea was to be running it as a proper farm then I quite sympathise with the school, but perhaps the ultimate destination of the livestock could have been made clearer earlier?

[skidoodle]

That head teacher sounds great. The one big mouth parent the BBC have used as their only parent spokesperson sounds like one of those tedious windbags who like being outraged about nothing.

[LadyStealthPolarBear]

"Head is quite right, but only as long as it was clear to the children from the start that this lamb was for meat."
Yes, exactly

[CMOTdibbler]

Eldon- you always castrate male lambs who are going for meat. It makes then less agressive, and makes for better meat.

[Dumbledoresgirl]

Wow, what an incredible (in a good sense) head she is! What a fantastic education that is for the children.

That said, I can imagine a lot of children would not want to eat the meat from an animal they have hand reared (and those animals looked gorgeous). I think it may well tip a few children over into vegetarianism.

[EldonAve]

CMOTdibbler - thanks for explaining

[DailyMailNameChanger]

The school is on Romney Marsh - I find it hard to believe that many of the children attending that oarticular school will not have a fair understanding of what happens to lambs once they reach a certain age - unless of course the parents have deliberatly sheilded them from the knowledge that meat comes from animals, in which case the parents need to be looking at their policies IMO.

I agree with the person who said the parent is clearly the type who bleats about everything - I suspect all the negative quotes come from her as no-one else has been attributed which they would have been if there was more than one parent up in arms about it!

[PortAndLemon]

"bleats"... hehehehe

[Weegle]

I think it's a great idea - as meat eaters we need to be prepared to face, and be okay with, the origin of our food. DS is only 3 but he already knows the origin of meat - it's important that as a society we don't just present meat in a pre-packaged form. And as long as this was the objective from the start with the farm e.g. eat the eggs, and butcher the meat etc then I think it is wholly appropriate and a very valuable lesson. Even if it increases the numbers of vegetarians that is fine because it means those children have thought about the origin of their food and made a decision about it accordingly.

[charis]

I think it is an interesting and educational project. The media do like to whip up a bit of a controversy from nothing don't they?

[edam]

Ooh yes, as a vegetarian I'm all for anything that might make people think about where their food comes from and animal welfare etc. etc. etc.

But I think even in my pre-veggie days, and despite growing up in a rural area, having friends who were farmers, being sent to our local slaughterhouse to collect the bulls' eyes for dissection at school, I'd still have been jolly upset about eating a pet lamb.

[skidoodle]

Re: the media -

Yes, a more realistic headline would read:

Tiresome bore complains about something

[bacon]

I'm glad to read so many positive reactions. As a farmers wife with 2 little boys I am determined that they know where all their food comes from and my 4 yr old understands lamb from ewes etc.

Even so, not sure putting it to vote is really acceptable at this age as do they really understand?

The trouble is a pet lamb goes on to be a big smelly ewe/ram/wether which can be a strong animal depending on the breed. Would the children be so interested when it becomes this animal?......I think not.

Would be nice to know what happened to the meat. If the canteen could have it back and cook some delicious local food surely this would be another lesson. Because unfortunatly a lot of the meat provided to schools is from a wholesaler that can sourse meat from around the world just to keep costs down.