Marcus the Sheep - Discuss...

Flicker

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http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2636628/Marcus-the-sheep-gets-the-chop.html

I'm a little torn. On the one hand I think it is important that children understand that their meat comes from thinking, breathing, feeling animals, not a plastic tub in Tesco.
On the other hand, this was a hand-reared animal and it just seems so horrible to cart the trusting little guy off to an abbatoir when his only experience of humans is friendly patting hands and food...

What do the HHO's, renowned for their sensible objectivity, make of this one?
 

BBH

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I don't understand this at all, if you want to teach children about the food chain take them to a farm and processing centre don't imo keep the sheep as a pet giving him a christian name and then slaughter him. I doubt anyone would agree to killing the classroom rabbit for example.

Totally unfair and unjustified imo.
 

muffinino

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Good for the headmistress.

As 'distressing' as it may be, children do need to understand where meat comes from. The sheep had a good life and I would have thought he was slaughtered in as humane a way as possible. I would bet the majority of those campaigning for him to live were meat eaters and as such have no right to complain that their kids were upset - they should be explaining this sort of thing to their children themselves or be vegetarians if they can't handle the reality of where meat comes from.

Maybe they should focus their attention on campaigning for better conditions for animals raised and slaughtered in far worse conditions eg. broiler chickens and animals who are kept in small pens, indoors, fattened up then slaughtered without ever having been outside.
 

mtj

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Unless the children had been encouraged to understand that is what would happen to the sheep, this action is insane.

I'm not sure that this head really has the children's best interests at heart.

seems like an effective way to make the kids vegetarian.
 

Chico Mio

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It's a sheep. To me, more important is the fact that young children were 'traumatised' by being shown how he would be butchered, not really necessary. The 'unidentified' indignant mum makes me laugh though - I hope she is a vegetarian and not just a hypocrite.
 

BBH

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seems like an effective way to make the kids vegetarian. [ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ]


That wouldn't be such a bad thing tbh. Is there such a thing as a baconarian ( veggie with a sat am bacon sarnie )
grin.gif
 

AmyMay

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I think that it is a particularly callous and malicious thing for this woman to have done.

This was not an animal reared for the dinner table. And had been raised as a pet.

I don't know how she can live with herself. Words fail me quite frankly. And if my child were in her school, it would be removed.
 

Mid

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I'm all for letting kids know where their food comes from, but to describe how he was going to be butchered and taking the children on a 'last visit' to see him is unreasonably harsh, and the headteacher does sound a bit crazy.

I think it is a good thing to be taught about farming and meat at a young age, but I think primary school children are too young to have what is effectively their class pet killed :S Also it doesn't sound like the kids were made to understand from the start that he would be sent for slaughter after a year, but rather had it sprung upon them after they'd grown attatched.

I'm sure it's all being hyped up in that article, but still seems a bit odd, and like I said, the headmistress sounds insane..
 

MurphysMinder

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This was discussed on the radio on Friday. The first thing that was pointed out was that it was not a 3 year old sheep, it was this years lamb, typical Sun accuracy! Whilst i agree it is right that children know where their meat comes from perhaps the mistake here was to give it a name, never a good idea when you are going to eat something. I think the children did know from the start it was being reared for meat but still a bit harsh for little ones. I would think with children of this age it might be better for them to just visit a farm, see lambs, and have it explained to them that they would be killed for meat, but would not have a problem with children of secondary school age to be involved in rearing a lamb for the table.
 

Daffodil

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This headmistress actually sounds quite unpleasant and i would not want my child to be under her care. She has little common sense and still less compassion. She was determined to "win" her battle over this regardless of the feelings of these very young children.
 

MurphysMinder

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I do think you are right there, get the impression she just wasn't prepared to back down. Not someone I would like in charge of my children when they were at primary school.
 

flyingfeet

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We are far too fluffy - I think this was a good stance by the headmistress.

People should be compassionate about what they eat, and yes something cute has to die for you to stuff that fast food or ready meal in your mouth

I think if nothing else its an excellent lesson for the parents too, which are probably sat on their leather sofas at home and eat meat (cannot believe that many were veggies)

Children this young will not be mentally scarred by eating the lamb.

However they should have kept it as a number, no names.
 

SonnysHumanSlave

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Paul o'grady tried to save this sheep, but was too late, he was even prepared to keep it forever, and send updates to the class.

I dont think its a very good way of teaching kids where meat comes from.... they could've taken them to a farm for that!
 

The Bouncing Bog Trotter

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Something not mentioned in The Sun article, but covered in other newspapers, is the fact the School's Pupil Council made up up 14 of the school's pupils voted overwhelmingly (13 to 1) to send him to slaughter.

Also bear in mind that the school is on the Romney Marsh - not far from me, and it really is sheep rearing country. This isn't an inner city school.
 

MooMoo

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I think kids should learn about where meat comes from but this head seems a bit bats to me!!


Its either a pet or for slaughter. Not both. That is completely unfair on the kids.
 

k1963

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These are very young children & while I agree they will find out sooner or later where meat ' comes from ' , I feel they are too young at the moment .

Also , the sheep should never been allowed to be a pet for the children .

I don't like the sound of the Headmistress one bit - determined to have her way . Why not send the kids to an abbatoir instead ? ( only joking , but hope you get my drift . )
 

Tinkerbee

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I think it's ridiculous. I glanced at the story briefly in the Daily Fail and so don't know the full details... but if they were told from the start that the sheep would be eaten tell them to quit their whineing and slaughter the bloody thing.
tongue.gif


One mum of a pupil — who asked not to be identified — said today: "Andrea Chapman will, from this moment on, be a murderer to me.

That woman is a complete moron. Scary thought that she has kids.
 

MooMoo

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LMAO at some of the comments on the website. Just read the whole article properly.

Seriously, a LAWYER?!?! Someone obviously has money to burn.
crazy.gif




I dont agree with them naming the sheep but thats about it.
 

FestiveSpirit

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I'm not even going to bother reading the Sun's version of events, but I have read the BBC version and have no problem with what happened at all
smile.gif


The kids voted to send the sheep to slaughter FFS - unfortunately the fluffy bunny minority then had to get involved and cause a fuss
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I always thought that slaughter was an integral part of the food chain, too
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Actually now I recall, when I was at primary school one of the kids had a pet lamb called LambChops - yep, guess what happened to it, the kid was not concerned at all as he was from a farming family and that was what happened to sheep
smile.gif
 

Sussexbythesea

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I think it right that we understand how animals are reared and what happens to them when they go for meat. However I think it quite bizarre to name an animal and allow children to get emotionally attached to it like a pet and then kill it!

This is not normally what happens in the real world - farm animals are not kept like pets - so what exactly has it taught them?
confused.gif
It is actually possible for people to understand situations without having to directly experience them - that is one of the things that sets us apart from other animals.
 

Onyxia

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[ QUOTE ]
Good for the headmistress.

As 'distressing' as it may be, children do need to understand where meat comes from. The sheep had a good life and I would have thought he was slaughtered in as humane a way as possible. I would bet the majority of those campaigning for him to live were meat eaters and as such have no right to complain that their kids were upset - they should be explaining this sort of thing to their children themselves or be vegetarians if they can't handle the reality of where meat comes from.

[/ QUOTE ]
Agree,but people dont.
You wouldnt belive the amount of dirty looks OH and I get at the butchers because we point out different meats and say "yep,pork-that comes from pigs"
crazy.gif

He even asked if the cows were "milk cows,yummy cows are cuddleing cows" on a trip to a city farm
grin.gif


[ QUOTE ]
Maybe they should focus their attention on campaigning for better conditions for animals raised and slaughtered in far worse conditions eg. broiler chickens and animals who are kept in small pens, indoors, fattened up then slaughtered without ever having been outside.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think quite a bit of parliments time spent on banning hunting should have been devoted to this subject-improving the conditions for farmed animals has far more long reaching benefits then anything else
smile.gif
 

eahotson

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My grandfather kept pigs.and chickens.He slaughtered them himself.Did he encourage his children to give them names and make them pets?? What do you think?He killed not for fun or because he got off on it but as a sad necessity to feed his family.He gave his animals the best of care while they were alive and the quickest and most humane death he could.He had a slaughter mans licence.He did notdiscuss all ofthis with his children, at best he would have thought this a bizare idea.He did his best to get them out the way on slaughter day.There is something no tquite healthy about that school situation.Someone somewhere was getting off on it.
 

nicnag

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This is how I grew up, we got pet lambs and when they were fat we sent them to slaughter and they went in the freezer. Some folk might consider it callous but it didn't seem like an issue to me as a child, I accepted that was life and I would even ask who I was having for tea! You accept things much more easily as a child and the reaction is quite likely that the adults have voiced their opinion and their children follow suit. I don't see any problem with what the head mistress suggested and I'm sure the news paper reports are glorified to suit .
I work in agriculture at a college, my Oh is a hill farmer, we have school visits and I find it really shocking the amount of children who have NO clue at all where food comes from. Maybe a few more school projects like this one would be a good idea, as a child I was taken on a school trip to the local abbattoir and there were no kids pulled out by parents back then. It didn't traumatise me or any of the others then and hasn't done any lasting harm or turned any of us into mass murderers!
 

brighteyes

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I'm torn too - can we do the same thing with Sparky the pony, rides and grooming, then send him off for dog meat beacuse we can and folks do?

There's a lot of nitty gritty that we need to be exposed to but there are ways and means.

And two sides to every story. The dissenters have their voice - where are the opinions of the pro-slaughter. Just to balance things out...
 

the watcher

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I think the school had the right idea, and the pupils by the sound of it. As usual it is hysterical parents and other outside pressure groups who have whipped up the situation.

Children SHOULD understand that their dinner was once a living, breathing, animal. They SHOULD understand that all animals deserve the highest possible standard of care, no matter what the eventual outcome is for the animal.

We didn't have anything bigger than hamsters when I was at primary schools, but we did have very regular visits to a local training farm, with educational input on cereal production and milking herds - at the time I didn't appreciate that this might be in any way unusual.

So, animal husbandry and crop rotation - every child should have some exposure to these - if only to understand where their food comes from
 

Knightmare

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I don't understand the fuss, we had 2 'pet' sheep every year at school. Every year we named them, fed them, learnt how to look after them, sent them off for slaughter and ate them. We used to feed them polo's so we didn't have to add mint sauce lol. Animal slaughter is a fact of the meat eaters life.

Having said that on our farm, if the lambs that are orphaned end up with a name they tend not to go to slaughter but that's the farmers wifes ruling and the farmer won't cross her!
 

BBH

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Nobody is saying children shouldn't be made aware of where their dinner comes from are they ? the problem for most people is that the sheep shouldn't have been kept as a pet with a name.

There is a clear distinction between an animal bred for the dinner table and a pet and that is where I have a problem with this in that the boundaries are blurred. Pets have names, dinner table animals don't.

And as for hysterical parents I think most parents would want a say in how their children are influenced and what they are exposed to.
 
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