United Poultry Concerns is pleased to announce that the Carnegie Science
Center, located in Pittsburgh, PA, has closed down its chick hatchery
operation due to its failure as an educational exhibit. Exhibit director
Tom Flaherty told United Poultry Concerns today that the hatchery, which
was shut down in late September, wasn't meeting the center's
"educational objectives any more so we stopped hatching chicks."
In February 2000, United Poultry Concerns launched a vigorous national
campaign to prevent the hatchery exhibit from opening, followed by our
national effort to close down the hatchery after it opened despite
hundreds of protest letters. On April 22, 2000, United Poultry Concerns
and Animal Advocates of Pittsburgh held an all-day Earth Day protest and
candlelight Vigil at the Carnegie Science Center. We handed out
educational leaflets to Carnegie patrons under the name of Citizens
Against the Carnegie Chick Hatchery. We pointed out that "a mechanical
hatchery does not illustrate the natural life of chickens." We urged
patrons to protest the hatchery for being unnatural, cruel, and
misleading. We accomplished our mission.
The birds were being hatched on a plastic grid in a desolate mechanical
display supposed to show "the miracle of birth," "natural systems," and,
most bizarrely, "where eggs come from," in a noisy carnival atmosphere.
In a letter published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (March 14, 2000),
United Poultry Concerns president Karen Davis said that the hatchery
"should be closed down." We are pleased to report that our goal has been
reached. We thank everyone who contacted the Carnegie Science Center
urging that the chick hatchery be canceled. We are grateful for the
center's decision.
United Poultry Concerns is a national nonprofit organization
promoting the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic
fowl. For more information visit www.UPC-online.org.
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