http://www.herald.ns.ca/Search/498472.html

This is absolutely appalling.:down:
I can't even see the logic here: "look kids, isn't this a cute, friendly little pig? That's why you should support his painful torture in a factory farm, and eventual murder." :cry:

Earlier in the week an ex-pig farmer was bitching about hard times in the prk industry around here:
http://www.herald.ns.ca/Opinion/496625.html

I think it's great: maybe more people will quit farming animals & switch to something else.

Yeah that is really sick.

It seems odd, though, from the farmers' perspective - are they sure this won't turn against them?

But if it doesn't, then one thing we know is that the "kids have to meet real animals to have compassion for animals" defence for zoos is bull****.

It seems odd, though, from the farmers' perspective - are they sure this won't turn against them?

But if it doesn't, then one thing we know is that the "kids have to meet real animals to have compassion for animals" defence for zoos is bull****.

I think kids must be really gullible about this sort of cute-animals-to-sell-meat schtick: I mean, they had McDonald's "Babe" happy meals at one point, & Burger King was selling meat products using characters from "Chicken Run". Weren't both of those films anti-meat in some sense?

I think kids must be really gullible about this sort of cute-animals-to-sell-meat schtick: I mean, they had McDonald's "Babe" happy meals at one point, & Burger King was selling meat products using characters from "Chicken Run". Weren't both of those films anti-meat in some sense?

Exactly, I was never that stupid I figured out at 6/7 that it was wrong and I was able to make the link between the animal and the meat.

unfortunately, some people LIKE the idea of eating the pig and think it's cool that 'this animal will turn into food.'

:wall:

k, someone tell the kids that thats what they EAT?

:/ sheesh

I hope it back fires on him and a new crop of little veggies are created :)

k, someone tell the kids that thats what they EAT?
There's still a big gap in the lesson plan. It's a little like telling a child who's curious about where he came from that "Mommy and Daddy got married, and 9 months later you came along!"

Most children as young as these can't make the sequential, logical leap between holding (or looking at) a living, infant piglet, lamb, kid, calf, or chick, then holding a fast-food box with a cartoon of the same infant animal on it, then formulate the conclusion that the baby had to be intentionally killed so they can swallow it. Developmental stages in children just don't progress this way. Animal agribusiness marketers and advertisers understand this, and construct campaigns accordingly. Some animal protection organizations understand this, and construct campaigns accordingly.

How absurd. It just makes me want to laugh.

I hope a thousand years from now, this is taught in history classes and all the kids go *gasp* *shock*

and all the kids go *gasp* *shock*

heh it'd be awesome if they actually said 'gasp, shock!'

I hope that's how we talk in the future!

Well, even when my 9 year old daughter wears her "No, I don't have any spare ribs" piglet shirt to school, or carries her "no animals in here" lunchbag, or carries her "I am not a nugget" bag to school....none of the kids get it. So many of my daughters friends make fun of her for not eating meat. I would think that a live piglet visiting their school would help them make the connection but many of the kids know that the animals are killed for food but just go by what their parents tell them. IE.... it's ok, its JUSt a chicken, or it's JUST a pig etc. I for one am so sick of KIDS telling me, it's just a (insert animal name). Many do not care at all about the sanctity of life other than their own. Such a shame.
Hopefully the farmer will get crops of "veggies" as someone mentioned earlier. Kids aren't dumb just not aware.

UGH!!! This is the kinda stuff that just makes me sick! :grr:
These people (in the article) are so effing twisted! :mad: What good do they think they're doing by letting the kids see a cute little pig that they could be eating in a short while? :brood:
:notvegan:
...This is why I'm gonna raise my kids vegan.

Taken from the article:

""Pigs are smart and clean, and if you really work with a pig they can be smarter than a dog," said Mr. Berfelo, looking over at his sleeping charge."

More reason not to eat them??

I just think of the uproar and arguments people would have if dog meat were being sold. But it is no worse than the pork chop on their plate :notvegan:

Slightly OT, but our paper's section for kids featured a cartoon cow talking about how it ate "inedible things" to make "nutritious foods for humans like milk, cheese, hamburger, and steak." Hmmmmph.

I run the risk of being contraversial here, but shouldn't people know where their meat came from? Admittedly, having only the meat industry telling them is going to lead to a somewhat skewed angle, but I firmly beleive that people, especially children nowadays simply lack the awareness.

I have friends who eat meat who won't walk past the butcher's window without cringing. Meat for them has to come pre-breaded and packaged from the supermarket. That makes me really mad.

What people need to do is to employ both sides of the debate in schools - a member of the meat industry and a veg*n.

Sadly, the meat industry makes more money. :(