United Poultry Concerns' Letters to Canandaigua School Superintendent Donald Raw
February 28, 2008
Mr. Donald Raw, Jr.
Superintendent of Schools
Canandaigua City School District
143 North Pearl Street
Canandaigua, NY 14424
Dear Mr. Raw:
I am writing to you regarding the episode in which 21 chickens were slaughtered as an elective classroom project at Canandaigua Academy on December 12, 2007. I first learned of this project from a student at the Academy who called our office in early December to request intervention to stop the killings. Since then, I have followed the discussion in the Daily Messenger in print and online. In addition, I have discussed the killings with Canandaigua resident Joel Freedman, whose letter appeared in the Daily Messenger under the title “Wrong lesson for science class” on February 8, 2008. In his letter, Mr. Freedman mentions his meeting with you and with school principal, Lynne Erdle, and classroom teacher, Eric Cosman.
From what I understand, it appears that Mr. Cosman had already slaughtered two chickens in front of the students a week before he allowed participating students to slaughter the 21 birds (there were said to be 22 chickens raised in the project one of whom was spared) in groups of three or four birds. However, there are conflicting accounts of the method of killing the birds. On one hand it is said that they were placed in killing cones, while others say that the birds were beheaded with an ax. However, when killing cones are used to kill poultry, it is normal procedure to sever blood vessels in the throat, followed by bleedout, rather than to behead the birds.
There is also the question of which vessels were severed by Mr. Cosman and by the students and what understanding the students had about the nature, placement and function of the jugular veins versus the carotid arteries. An article entitled “Meat isn’t always wrapped in plastic” in the Feb. 11 edition of the Daily Messenger says that the project was modeled after a 4-H program.
I am writing to request clarification of how exactly the chickens were slaughtered by the teacher and by the students: were the chickens beheaded with an ax? Or were they slaughtered by having their throats partially cut and then bled out? I would also like to request a copy of the 4-H model on which this project was based with particular attention to the slaughter process.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Karen Davis, PhD
President
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April 7, 2008
Donald Raw, Jr.
Superintendent of Schools
Canandaigua City School District
143 North Pearl Street
Canandaigua, NY 14424
Dear Mr. Raw:
On February 28, 2008, I wrote to you for clarification of the methods that were used to slaughter twenty-one (or twenty-two) chickens in Eric Cosman’s classroom exercise at Canandaigua Academy on December 12, 2007. I wrote in view of conflicting reports from students and in newspaper accounts of the killings. I am renewing my request at this time and have enclosed a copy of my original letter.
As a courtesy to you, and so that you understand how seriously we take this matter, I’m enclosing a copy of our quarterly magazine Poultry Press, which includes an account of the Canandaigua Academy chicken killings on pages 6 and 7. The account appears on our Website at
http://www.upc-online.org/spring08/index.html.
On behalf of United Poultry Concerns, I respectfully urge that you use your authority to prevent further episodes of this nature from happening in the Canandaigua City School District. Instead of encouraging students to kill and enjoy the power of killing, please encourage your teachers to develop constructive, life-preserving projects. There are plenty of opportunities for constructive learning, such as studying (without disturbing) the parenting behavior of birds in the outdoors, building attractive birdhouses, and visiting places like Farm Sanctuary and Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary in upstate New York.
Once again, allow me to thank you for your assistance in this matter and to express my hope that you will respond to my previous letter and, most importantly, that you will prevent future slaughter projects at Canandaigua Academy. There is enough DVD footage on the Internet and from animal protection organizations, such as ours, to show slaughter without “reinventing the wheel,” and, in addition, raising questions about the underlying psychology that would prompt a desire to bring bloodshed into the high school environment – as if schools didn’t have enough of hurtful violence and callousness within their student-body to deal with already.
I hope that you treat seriously the objections presented to you about these chicken killings. If slaughtering animals is acceptable pedagogy, then the entire slaughter process should be videotaped – including the audio component – and made fully available to public scrutiny. Otherwise, we assume there is something to hide, and we will do our best to reveal it.
Sincerely,
Karen Davis, PhD
President
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
757-678-7875
FAX: 757-678-5070
www.upc-online.org |
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